BOSTON – It took the Boston Bruins five years to score a power-play goal in the playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens.
They needed only 22 seconds to do it again.
Reilly Smith and Jarome Iginla scored on back-to-back advantages to help the Bruins snap an 0-for-39 postseason power-play drought against Montreal and beat the Canadiens 4-2 on Saturday night. The victory in Game 5 gave Boston a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series and a chance to eliminate its Original Six archrival in Montreal on Monday night.
“It’s been a little bit. We all know that,” said Iginla, who just joined the team this season. “Guys are on it, and we want to come through on the power play.”
Carey Price made 26 saves for Montreal. Brendan Gallagher and P.K. Subban scored for the Canadiens, who need a victory in Game 6 on Monday to force the series back to Boston for seventh game Wednesday night.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s going to be a tough game,” Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk said. “You have to be prepared for everything, because you can’t expect anything less from that team.”
Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson also scored for Boston. Tuukka Rask stopped 29 shots, extending his shutout streak to 122 minutes, 6 seconds before Gallagher scored to make it 3-1 on a power play with 5:21 left in the second period.
Subban had a late goal on a power play with Price pulled to make it a 6-on-4. The Canadiens played much of the last five minutes with an empty net, but could not get closer than two-goals down.
The most-decorated team in the NHL, Montreal has reached the conference finals just once since winning its 24th Stanley Cup title in 1993.
“It has to be desperation mode,” Price said. “We’ve got enough guys here that have faced that type of situation we’re in.”
The Bruins had not scored a power-play goal in the playoffs against the Canadiens in 39 tries over 14 games dating to 2009.
Soderberg gave Boston the lead with 6:40 left in the first, and it was still 1-0 at the end of the period when Tomas Plekanec was penalized for interfering with the goaltender. Just 64 seconds after the break, Smith redirected Dougie Hamilton’s shot past Price to make it 2-0.
Sixteen seconds later, Plekanec was sent off again — this time for high-sticking. It only took 6 seconds into the power play for the Bruins to make it 3-0 on a backhand crossing pass from Torey Krug to Iginla.
“I think our power play wasn’t effective the first period,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “We had a little chat after the opening period about turning up the intensity. Then when we scored the two goals, and the power play was huge.”
Plekanec set up Gallagher to cut the deficit to two goals with 5:21 left in the second period, but Eriksson snapped in the rebound of Game 4 hero Matt Fraser’s shot with just under 6 minutes left in the game to make it 4-1.
NOTES: The game was played on the 44th anniversary of Bobby Orr’s Stanley Cup-winning goal against the St. Louis Blues that was immortalized with a bronze statue outside the TD Garden. … The Bruins had scored two goals in the opening two periods of the first four games before tallying three in the first in Game 5. … Price tied Gump Worsley for fifth place on Montreal’s list for playoff games by a goalie, with 39. … Fraser, who scored in his NHL playoff debut in overtime in Game 4, had an assist on Boston’s fourth goal Saturday. … Subban said someone on the Bruins’ bench squirted water on his visor late in the game.
Leave a Reply