The Bruins were hoping to bounce back in front of their fans after a poor performance away from home to start the campaign and they got back to their old ways against the Canadiens, who were playing their second game in as many nights in a different city.

Elias Lindholm and Cole Koepke each had a goal and two assists, Jeremy Swayman stopped 20 shots in his first start after a lengthy contract dispute and Boston beat Montreal 6-4 in its home opener Thursday.

Samuel Montembeault was imperial on Wednesday at the Bell Centre, stopping 48 shots to help the Habs start their campaign by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 .

Cayden Primeau was less effective against a barrage of 29 Bruins shots, including 23 in the first 40 minutes of play. He wasn’t helped either by his teammates, who often made mistakes in coverage in their own zone.

“We know what we have to do [in defensive territory], but we just made mistakes tonight,” said Brendan Gallagher, who scored twice for the Canadiens. “You do that against good players and they don’t need a lot of time and space to score.”

“We knew it wouldn’t be easy playing a second game in as many nights and playing against a very motivated team,” he added.

Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson also scored for the Canadiens (1-1-0), who have just one win in their last 15 games against the Bruins (1-12-2). Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle and Joel Armia each had two assists.

“They were simply better than us tonight during the 60 minutes,” summarized the Canadiens’ head coach, Martin St-Louis.

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, while Mark Kastelic scored twice and Charlie McAvoy also scored for the Bruins (1-1-0), who rebounded from a 6-4 loss to the Florida Panthers in their season opener. Nikita Zadorov and Brandon Carlo each had two assists.

Forward Oliver Kapanen was making his NHL debut with the Canadiens and had an assist. He was replacing Emil Heineman.

The Canadiens will play their next game on Saturday, when they host the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre.

Bruins more convincing
Primeau was challenged early in the game and made a save on a point-blank shot from Brad Marchand.

The Canadiens goalie was beaten a little later, at 2:00, but St. Louis contested the Bruins’ power-play goal. Replays confirmed that Justin Brazeau had bothered Primeau and Hampus Lindholm’s goal was disallowed.

The Canadiens opened the scoring at 8:26 when they found themselves on the power play. Gallagher completed a nice passing play started by Hutson and Armia.

The Bruins responded by also scoring on the power play at 11:04. McAvoy surprised Primeau, who had his vision clouded.

The Canadiens took the lead again 1:14 later. Caufield took advantage of plenty of time at the net to push a puck sent by Guhle into the net.

Once again, the Bruins quickly responded, tying the game 66 seconds later. Kastelic scored with a precise shot that grazed the crossbar before crossing the goal line.

The Bruins took the lead for the first time in the game with 1:37 left in the first period. Posted in the slot, Elias Lindholm deflected a shot from Zadorov and the puck slipped through Primeau’s equipment.

The Canadiens were bottled up in their own territory early in the second period, but the Bruins were unable to immediately extend the lead.

Anderson had a great chance to level the scores while the Habs were playing shorthanded. However, he hit the post.

Nick Suzuki also had a point-blank shot at Swayman later on a power play. The Bruins goalie made the save with his glove.

The Bruins extended their grip on the victory by scoring twice in a 55-second span late in the second period.

Pastrnak first scored his 350th career NHL goal with a precise one-timer at 15:56. Koepke then took advantage of a rebound after a nice charge by John Beecher toward the Canadiens net.

St. Louis mixed up its combinations in the third period in hopes of creating a spark and the decision paid off.

“As a coach, you follow your instincts. It worked a little bit. We had a surge,” St-Louis explained.

The Bruins squandered early scoring opportunities when Charlie Coyle hit the post and Pavel Zacha was unable to shoot into an empty net.

However, the Canadiens then cut the deficit to 5-3 with 10:55 left when Anderson deflected a Guhle shot past Swayman.

Gallagher followed with 4:17 left on the clock, scoring on a one-timer off a pass from Jake Evans.

The Bruins restored their two-goal lead just 17 seconds later, however. Kastelic attempted a cross-ice pass and the puck deflected off Primeau’s stick before ending up in the net.

“A goalkeeper is never happy to give up a goal, but the last one was particularly frustrating since we had just come back into the game,” admitted Primeau.

Despite a power play at the end of the game, the Canadiens were unable to make a comeback.