MONTREAL — With less than 14 minutes to go in the third period, and with the Canadiens killing a five-on-three Bruins advantage while clinging to a one-goal lead, Kaiden Guhle stepped in front of a David Pastrnak one-timer and braced for impact. The shot hit him in the ribs. The rebound was blocked by defence partner Johnathan Kovacevic. Then teammate Christian Dvorak stepped in front of another Bruins blast before Guhle helped Montreal survive what seemed like an impending disaster with yet another courageous stop.

It is this sequence, on this raucous Saturday night at the Bell Centre, in front of a crowd that delivered an April-type atmosphere for a November game, that perfectly encapsulates why the Canadiens beat Boston for the first time in over four years.

“Winning hurts,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis afterwards, and he was right — it certainly does if you do it right.

Not that St. Louis or the Canadiens would give back some of the wins they notched through a flawed process earlier this season. And hey, two points count in the standings whether you deserve them or not.

But Saturday’s game should go a long way towards proving to this team that a process involving pain in this sport more often than not leads to the greatest pleasure you can enjoy while playing it — winning games you deserve to win.

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It wasn’t even two weeks ago that the Canadiens walked into Las Vegas and smacked the reigning Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights around at T-Mobile Arena. It was a game St. Louis referred to as his team’s most thoroughly well-played one since he arrived as coach in February of 2022, and it was somewhat similar to this one against a dominant Bruins team that came to Montreal with 11 wins in 13 games and 10 straight wins over the Canadiens dating back to Nov. 5, 2019.

There were differences, though, and perhaps that’s why the result wasn’t the same. The shootout loss to the Golden Knights on Oct. 31 was a game the Canadiens controlled almost from the start all the way to the finish, not unlike this win over the Bruins, but they did it with skill and poise and playmaking that left them thinking they could pass their way through their next opponents, who ended up sinking them into a four-game winless streak.

The Canadiens finished with only 11 blocked shots in that game. They had nearly as many giveaways (9) and threw just 16 hits.

There were a lot of smiles around the room afterwards, but not too many players behind the scenes wearing icebags.

Against the Bruins on Saturday, the Canadiens embraced pain and blocked 18 shots — none of them timelier than in that three-on-five situation, as they were desperate to not squander the 2-1 lead they earned by committing to playing as hard a game as they could muster.

Michael Pezzetta’s thunderous third period hit on Brandon Carlo was Montreal’s 27^th — and last — of the night. The Canadiens also bore down and dug out 55 per cent of the faceoffs. And their commitment to pushing the puck behind the Bruins and going to work in the offensive zone was another signature part of this win.

All that stuff is the stuff pain is made of and, as St. Louis said, it is necessary to suffer to win consistently in this league.

The Canadiens weren’t perfect in this game, nor were they deluded into thinking they were, which should help them avoid the same trap they fell into after the Vegas game.

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“We still made mistakes,” said St. Louis, who then credited Samuel Montembeault for stopping 26 of 28 Bruins shots and serving as the last line of defence with a performance he deemed “excellent.”

But the coach also saw a defensive commitment that was strong enough to help the Canadiens overcome 24 turnovers.

And St. Louis knows the Canadiens can take something from that.

“It’s to understand how you need to comport yourself on the ice every game to give yourself the best chance to win,” he said. “It doesn’t guarantee a win, but you’re helping yourself a lot when you’re as engaged and you understand your game without the puck is essential offensively and defensively.

“Defending isn’t fun, but it’s part of the game, and you have to do it like you love it.”

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Chipping pucks in and chasing after them isn’t fun, either, but it wears down your opponent and puts it on its heels.

St. Louis always says he wants the Canadiens to play the game that’s in front of them, and a hard, workmanlike game is the only one the Bruins put in front of you — they will maul you if you try to skill your way through them.

Brendan Gallagher, who scored Montreal’s second goal in this game, has led the hard charge for the Canadiens since the start of the season. Sean Monahan and Tanner Pearson have been right there with him, never deviating from what has made their line the Canadiens’ most consistent and effective so far.

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Why did the Canadiens get their most rewarding win on Saturday? The rest of the lines followed their example.

“When we’re all on board and playing a hard game and hard to play against, I think that’s when we’re at our best,” said Monahan. “Tonight, everyone was committed and doing their job, and that’s usually the result you get when that happens.”

“We were playing to our systems, doing our automatics, doing the things that we know we should be doing,” Guhle said. “And I think just the biggest thing was having each other’s back and taking care of the team.”

Like Guhle did stepping in front of a one-timer from arguably the NHL’s most lethal shooter while two of his teammates looked on helplessly from the box. Or like Kovacevic and Dvorak did on the same sequence.

Now it’s about replicating that type of dedication more often.

Canadiens embrace pain in long-awaited win over Bruins

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