FOXBOROUGH — The Montreal Canadiens and their local goalkeeper Mike Condon spoilt New Year’s Day for the Boston Bruins, crushing their longtime foes 5-1 in the NHL’s annual outdoor Winter Classic in Foxborough, Massachusetts Friday.
Condon, who was raised in nearby Holliston and visited Gillette Stadium several times as an avid New England Patriots fan, made 27 saves to help Montreal win the latest installment in the rivalry between the two ‘Original Six’ franchises.
This was the 910th combined regular-season and playoff game between the teams, but the first held outdoors at Gillette Stadium, where the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots play their home games in the National Football League.
The script to Condon’s season began in September when he beat out Dustin Tokarski for the backup position behind Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, the reigning Hart Trophy winner as the league’s MVP.
However, Price has been limited to 12 games this season because of injuries, thrusting Condon into the spotlight and the Massachusetts native duly responded with a decent 11-9-3 record.
The Canadiens built leads of 1-0 after the first period and 3-0 after the second before Matt Beleskey halted Condon’s shutout bid early in the third period as snow began to fall.
David Desharnais, Brendan Gallagher, Max Pacioretty and Paul Byron, with two goals, scored for Montreal.
To commemorate Friday’s game, Condon had the back of his mask decorated with images of Patriots head coach Bill Belichik and star quarterback Tom Brady, as well as the four Vince Lombardi Trophies the Patriots have won as Super Bowl champions.
“I’m pretty sure anything that Tom Brady touches turns to gold,” Condon said. “So I was pretty happy. Hopefully, got some mojo on my helmet there.
“I’m a huge fan of his, huge fan of this organization, and I’m just happy to pay respect to them on the ice.”
Condon’s father, Ted, is a Massachusetts police sergeant and used to help the Patriots on security detail.
The Winter Classic also marked the return of Montreal forward Gallagher after a 17-game absence because of two broken fingers he suffered while blocking a shot. Without Gallagher, the Canadiens went a dismal 5-11-1.
Canucks 2, Ducks 1 (SO): Alexandre Burrows scored in the first round of the shootout and Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves to help Vancouver beat Anaheim.
Burrows whipped a shot past Frederik Andersen, and then Markstrom stopped Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg and Corey Perry to end Anaheim’s three-game win streak.
Christopher Tanev tied it with 9:36 left on a wrist shot from the blue line that slipped through traffic and past Andersen. Tanev had missed the previous two games with a foot injury.
Kesler, a former Canuck, put Anaheim ahead 7:24 into the second period on a power play. Kesler was checked down by Matt Bartkowski while taking in a feed from Chris Stewart atop the crease but still tipped the puck in past Markstrom.
The Canucks won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods. — Agencies
