On the strength of yeoman-like penalty killing and terrific goaltending by Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins held off the Canadiens on Saturday at the Bell Centre.

Boston’s 3-1 win leapfrogged them over Montreal into first place in the Atlantic Division.

In their first meeting of the season, the Bruins and Canadiens produced drama worthy of the rivalry from the first whistle.

The game started with a fight four seconds in and featured 22 penalties for 56 minutes.

Boston (12-8-0) will return home to host Carolina on Monday.

Marat Khusnutdinov opened the scoring at even strength, 8:38 into the game, but Jake Evans tied the game with a shorthanded goal, less than four minutes later.

Even though the period ended 1-1, the Bruins had momentum after killing a late 5-on-3 for 1:27.

After Mason

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