FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts — The Montreal Canadiens came into Friday’s game at Gillette Stadium determined to do more than just take part in their first Winter Classic game.
It helped that the Habs had sparkplug Brendan Gallagher back in the lineup.
The feisty right winger, who missed 17 games with two broken fingers on his left hand, returned with a goal and an assist to help the Canadiens to an easy 5-1 Classic victory over the Boston Bruins before a crowd of 67,246.
Montreal, which has also been without goaltender Carey Price since Nov. 25, showed renewed energy from start to finish with Gallagher back.
“I said I wouldn’t come back if I wasn’t able to contribute,” said Gallagher, who targeted the New Year’s Day game but was going to be smart about it. “The way the night went you couldn’t really ask for anything more.”
Gallagher and linemate Max Pacioretty (16th goal) each scored once and set up the other and center Tomas Plekanec assisted on both goals as the Canadiens (22-15-3) moved back into first place in the Atlantic Division. The Gallagher goal came with both players hitting the puck in mid-air.
“We didn’t just want to participate in the Winter Classic, we wanted to win the Winter Classic,” said coach Michel Therrien.
The Canadiens’ eighth straight win in and around Boston deprived the Bruins, losers four of their last five, of joining Montreal as the only two NHL franchises with 3,000 wins.
Left winger Phil Byron scored twice and center David Desharnais scored his first goal in 18 games just 1:14 into the contest as the Canadiens made life fairly easy for rookie goaltender Mike Condon — outshooting the Bruins 14-3 in the first period and never looking back.
Playing in front of family and friends, the kid from nearby Holliston, Mass. made 27 saves, the highlight a glove grab off center Ryan Spooner with one-tenth of a second left in the second period and his team ahead 3-0.
Condon was wearing a Patriots’ mask that was signed for him by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick (they didn’t actually meet).
“I’m pretty sure anything Tom Brady touches turns to gold,” Condon said after raising his record to 11-9-3. “I was pretty happy and hopefully I had some mojo there on my helmet … huge fan of his, huge fan of this organization and I was just happy to pay respect to them.”
Beleskey ended the potential shutout with his fourth goal in four games 3:56 into the third period. Condon was trying to pitch a shutout in a stadium where the Patriots, Condon’s favorite football team, have never been blanked in 128 games.
“We couldn’t generate any rhythm,” said Boston center Patrice Bergeron. “We weren’t first on pucks. We were second on every one of them and you can’t get any pucks on net if you don’t have the puck, so that was basically the reason why.”
The Bruins (20-13-4) also had a goal taken away by a quick whistle but left winger Matt Beleskey would score their only goal and they looked flat for most of the game — on a very large stage.
“That’s what happens sometimes,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “We have nights where things just don’t go your way, and we just couldn’t seem to find the rhythm. We couldn’t seem to find our game.”
The Bruins, playing without center David Krejci (injured), left winger Brad Marchand (suspended) and right winger David Pastrnak (continuing rehab at the World Junior Championships), missed their third straight chance in recent games to move into first place in the Atlantic.
Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask made 25 saves and kept his sluggish team in the game well into the second period, but fell to 4-15-3 lifetime against the Canadiens in the regular season.
Montreal right winger Dale Wiese, who assisted on the first goal of the game, left the game with an upper-body injury. He will be checked further back in Montreal.
NOTES: Bruins coach Claude Julien was wearing a Bill Belichick cutoff sweatshirt. “I just wanted to honor him,” Julien said on NBC of the Patriots coach. … With C David Krejci (injured) and RW David Pastrnak (World Junior Championships after injury) missing, Bruins LW Brad Marchand publicly apologized to his teammates for the three-game suspension he picked up clipping Ottawa D Mark Borowiecki on Tuesday night. “I just want to acknowledge the situation I’ve put my team in for being undisciplined and affecting the game for them, taking away from the excitement for the fans, being a part of this rivalry, taking that away from them and also for effecting this game for myself and putting myself in the situation to not be part of this,” Marchand said. … American anthem singer Jordan Smith heard boos because he wasn’t Bruins fan favorite Rene Rancourt.