Habs’ Beaulieu Does a Little of Everything in Win Over Bruins

There’s nothing in Beaulieu’s resumé that suggests he’s a fighter. The 6-foot-2, 194-pounder has had 14 fights in seven seasons of junior, American Hockey League and NHL play. But he looked like a seasoned pugilist as he hammered Boston’s Matt Fraser with three rights to earn his first NHL fighting major. (Beaulieu and Minnesota’s Stéphane Veilleux received double minors for roughing after a scrap last Saturday).

Beaulieu was rated the winner of his fight with Fraser by 93.3 per cent of the voters on hockeyfights.com. When you consider that Fraser never threw a punch and needed medical attention afterwards, you have to conclude that the other 6.7 per cent were either blind or diehard Bruins fans.

The blocked shots and the fight show that Beaulieu isn’t a one-trick pony. He showed a willingness to sacrifice his body and — while I’m usually skeptical of fights designed to inspire a team — there’s some evidence that Beaulieu’s scrap motivated the Canadiens against Boston. David Desharnais made a trip to the penalty box to recognize Beaulieu’s effort and the Canadiens scored twice when Beaulieu was in the penalty box to go ahead 3-1.