Skip to content
Flyers
Link copied to clipboard

Canadiens even series with Bruins

Max Pacioretty has a goal and an assist as Montreal blanks Boston, 4-0, to force Game 7.

MAX PACIORETTY had a goal and an assist in the second period and Carey Price made 26 saves as the Montreal Canadiens blanked the visiting Boston Bruins last night, 4-0, to force Game 7 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Game 7 is tomorrow night in Boston.

Pacioretty, who had only one assist in the first five games, scored and set up Thomas Vanek's goal in the second period. Lars Eller scored in the first for Montreal and Vanek added his second of the game into an empty net with 3:56 left.

Rookie Nathan Beaulieu, the Canadiens' 2011 first-round draft pick who was given a surprise start by coach Michel Therrien, picked up an assist in his first NHL playoff game and was plus-2.

The Canadiens repeated the scenario of their 2011 first-round series against the Bruins, winning at home to force a Game 7. That year, they lost Game 7 in overtime. The Bruins went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Montreal got out to a strong start after a rousing pregame show and the teams played at a ferocious pace through the first two periods.

Despite having the best of the play in the opening 20 minutes, the Canadiens needed an unusual play for the only goal.

Boston's Kevan Miller lost the puck off his stick behind the Bruins' net and then inadvertently tripped goalie Tuukka Rask as he tried to smother it, leaving Eller free to score unassisted 2:11 into the game.

The second period was marked by a remarkable 5:11 stretch without a whistle in which the Bruins bottled the Canadiens in their end for minutes at a time, only to see Milan Lucic miss their best scoring chance from the edge of the crease.

Soon after, Beaulieu flipped the puck up the center of the ice and saw it go off Loui Eriksson to Pacioretty, who won a race with Zdeno Chara and beat Rask between the pads at 15:24.

Noteworthy

* Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was fined $5,000 for emptying his water bottle onto Sidney Crosby while the Pittsburgh Penguins' captain was involved in a scrum in front of the New York net.

After the buzzer sounded following the second period of Game 6 on Sunday night, Lundqvist casually skated behind Crosby and sprayed him with water while Crosby was down on the ice. No penalty was called.

The league punished Lundqvist for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The teams will meet in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals tonight in Pittsburgh. New York is trying to complete its first comeback from a 3-1 series deficit.

Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton received a maximum fine of $2,820.52 on Sunday for squirting water at Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban in Game 5 of that series. Lundqvist's fine is greater because of his higher salary.

* Injured Chicago Blackhawks forward Andrew Shaw will miss his fifth straight game against the Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference semifinals. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Shaw's lower-body injury is progressing, but he won't make the trip for tonight's Game 6 in Minnesota. Chicago can eliminate the Wild and advance to the Western Conference finals.