Eric Haula, Patrice Bergeron each score two as Bruins edge Canadiens

The iconic Flower, also known as Le Demon Blond, often was the one who delivered crushing goals to beat the Bruins in tight games, especially in Montreal, but it was not to be for the sons of Toe Blake and Scotty Bowman.

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The Bruins,  now with only three games left on their regular-season schedule, remained 2 points ahead of the Caps in the wildcard placement. The Black and Gold still don’t know who they’ll face in Round 1 of the playoffs this time next week, but the candidates remain the Canes, Rangers, Panthers and possibly the Leafs.

Bergeron potted his second of the night, into an empty net, in the final seconds.

Bergeron opened the night’s scoring, potting a doorstep forehander after Brad Marchand fed a blind backhander off the rear wall into the thicket of the slot. Bruins, 1-0, with 15:03 gone in the period.

For the most part, the Habs looked tired and spent, perhaps their psyche drained from the pre-game ceremony to honor Habs great Guy Lafleur, who passed away Friday at age 70.

Even the most grizzled Bruins fan had to be brought to the edge of tears (or beyond) by the Lafleur homage, which began at 7:04 p.m. with the Habs skating to the Bell Centre ice in total silence.

The ceremony lasted for just over 20 minutes, the sellout crowd over the last 4-5 minutes ignoring PA announcements/pleas to quiet down. The Habs fans remained standing, holding their illuminated iPhones like torches, and shouting “Guy! Guy! Guy”, and “Ole’, Ole’, Ole,” the familiar fan chant dating back to the Habs’ glory days when “Flower” was central to the franchise’s four consecutive Cups, 1976-’79.

The Bruins boosted their lead to 2-0 with 1:57 to go before the break on a rare penalty shot. Penalty shots are anything but ordinary, but this one was truly extraordinary.

First, the free attempt was awarded to Haula on a very marginal call, the ref ruling that Mike Hoffman slashed the speedy center while he was racing to the net inside the blue line. A very marginal call. It looked like Hoffman made a quick, clever, efficient move to knock the puck away from Haula.

Lined up at center ice for the penalty shot attempt, Haula took his initial strides toward the net and whiffed on the puck, looking like some Saturday morning hacker in the tee box on a Par 3 course. Unfazed, Haula reached back, grabbed the puck, and raced in for a short-range wrister that beat goalie Sammy Montembeault to the glove side. Bruins, 2-0.

“What a bizarre set of circumstances we just witnessed,” noted ex-Bruin Andy Brickley, the NESN commentator.

It was only the fourth successful penalty shot by the Bruins against the Canadiens in the history of the rivalry. The previous PS strike was by Tim Taylor, April 15, 1998.

The Habs cut the lead in half, 2-1, with a power-play goal only 1:51 into the second, set up on the advantage when Bruin forward Trent Frederic was whistled off for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the 20:00 mark of the first.

Josh Anderson, the former Columbus forward, scored the first Habs goal, pushing home a backhander near the left post after a shot on net from the right wing circle. Assists: Brendan Gallagher and Jeff Petry.

A little more than two minutes later, at 4:04, Haula connected for his second of the night, and No. 17 this season, when he raced to the net and potted a smooth cross-slot feed from Tomas Nosek, promoted to second line duty in the absence of David Pastrnak (back home resting).

The Bruins put it away with 1:51 left in the second, Charlie McAvoy connecting for his career high 10th of the season on a wrister at the top of the left wing circle. It came off a faceoff, with Bergeron pulling the draw straight back. McAvoy collected it, took aim, and nailed it in for the three-goal lead to take into the intermission.

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.