Jake DeBrusk led the Boston Bruins to a game-winning victory over their rival Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in overtime.

DeBrusk scored his fifteenth goal of the season just 24 seconds into the overtime period, receiving a pass from Bruins captain Brad Marchand to the backhand, ending a high-energy night at Bell Centre.

Danton Heinen scored on the scoreboard for Boston (39-14-15), who were coming off a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

Linus Ullmark saved 18 shots in his second consecutive win, while Nick Suzuki scored the only goal for Montreal (25-30-11). Sam Montembeault stopped 21 shots.

The historic rivalry drew both "Let's Go Bruins!" and "Go Habs Go!" chants at Bell Centre – and mockery of Marchand every time he touched the puck. The game has overwhelmingly favored Boston in recent years, with the Bruins winning 13 of the last 14 meetings.

The Canadiens jumped to a power play with 8:53 left in the third period, only for Suzuki to receive a minor double penalty due to Charlie McAvoy who took a hard shot one minute into the man advantage, leading to a mix of chants and mockery by the Canadian team crowd.

Montreal killed off Boston’s power play, which generated no good chances.

The Bruins beat the Canadiens 9-4 in their last meeting in Boston on January 20, and seemed to have the upper hand again early in the day Thursday.

Heinen opened the scoring at 4:49 in the first period by tipping the puck into Montembeault's net while falling after a check by Yuraj Slavkovsky in front of the net.

Boston dominated play for 11 minutes, outshooting the Canadiens 8-1 while holding the puck in Montreal’s zone for several minutes at a time.

Suzuki tied the game at 14:37 with his 26th of the season, reaching a new career high.

Cole Caufield started the play with an unstoppable forecheck that led to a Brandon Carlo turnover. The puck eventually fell to Slavkovsky, who set it up perfectly for Suzuki to put it into the wide net.

Boston nearly regained the lead five minutes before the second period ended when Pavel Zacha sent David Pastrnak on a breakaway. The Czech player snapped a clean backhand shot on Montembeault but couldn't beat the post with the backhand shot.

First Glimpse
Andrew Peeke made his Bruins debut after Boston acquired the 25-year-old defenseman from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jakob Zboril and a third-round draft pick ahead of last week's trade deadline.

Peeke entered Boston's third pair alongside Parker Wotherspoon. Forward John Beecher played his first NHL game since January 13 after being called up Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Bruins forward James van Riemsdyk and blueliner Matt Grzelcyk missed the game due to illness.

Return to the lineup
Forward Colin White returned to the Canadiens lineup after missing four games due to an upper-body injury, while defenseman Jordan Harris was a healthy scratch for one game. Forwards Michael Pezzetta and Jesse Ylönen and defenseman Jayden Struble sat out.