Eller

Rookie Lars Eller couldn’t have picked a better time to record his first NHL two-goal game.

Eller scored twice in the first period, both at even strength, as Montreal got its revenge for last month’s fight-filled Bruins victory and pulled within three points of first place in the Northeast  Division with a 4-1 home-ice victory tonight over Boston.

More important than the result, however, was that NESN reported Montreal forward Max Pacioretty was at the hospital conscious with the ability to move his arms and legs after he left the rink in a stretcher. Pacioretty was hit into the glass between the benches late in the second period by Zdeno Chara and was face down on the ice for quite some time while medical personnel attended to him.

Chara was issues a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct. Undoubtedly, the league will review the play.

Here’s a look at the rest of the ugly box score:

•Tuukka Rask’s first test against a legitimate NHL offense in quite some time was a disaster, as he allowed four goals on just 26 shots. At least one was a bad goal, and two others could’ve been stopped. It’ll be interesting to see when Rask, who had played better recently against second-division opponents, gets another start.

•To the surprise of most, Tyler Seguin was in the Bruins’ lineup instead of Daniel Paille. He skated just 8:55 but still managed to take a bad tripping penalty way out at the top of the right circle. He also threw a hit that nearly created a scoring chance at the side of the Montreal net, but he failed to secure the puck or get a shot off.

•The Bruins’ power play put up a goose egg for the seventh straight game. With an 0-for-4 tonight, they’re now 0-for-16 over that stretch. But at least they look prettier in failure with Tomas Kaberle quarterbacking their ineptitude.

•Travis Moen assisted on both of Eller’s goals for Montreal. Milan Lucic tallied Boston’s lone score.

Published By Tue. March 8, 2011 10:24 pm EDT