Montreal Canadiens lock-down Boston Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7 – NHL Play-offs Update
The Montreal Canadiens managed to keep themselves alive for another day as they locked-down the Boston Bruins during the third period to maintain their 2-1 lead to finally take the match and level the series 3-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec on
Tuesday.
Montreal had a change of strategy throughout the match-up and that was to keep the puck more in the opposite teams’ end rather than letting them penetrate their defence. It is the eighth time in their franchise’s history that both teams will be going head-to-head
in game seven of the Eastern Conference play-off series. Taking the series into game seven should be a good sign for them as they have emerged victorious in five of the past seven post-season show-downs while Boston has only won twice.
"Its win or you're done," said Bruins goalie Tim Thomas who had to play nearly a whole period with players on the bench for penalties. "If we play the same way we did to win the three, we'll win the fourth."
Boston gave over 25 minutes of penalty time throughout the game resulting in both Montreal’s goals to come during that time. Montreal’s first goal in the initial period was scored by Mike Cammalleri at a time when they had the 5-on-3 man advantage because
of successive penalties served to Boston players.
The Bruins tied up the match when Dennis Seidenberg fired his first of the season in the opening 48 seconds of the second period. Brian Gionta again took the lead for the home team as he answered back five minutes later again on double man advantage. Milan
Lucic was booked for 15 minutes including a major and misconduct when he slammed Jaroslav Spacek into the boards and that to in front of the off-ice officials. Patrice Bergeron was also sent packing seconds later for delaying the game. Had both players stayed
on ice, the Bruins could have eliminated the Canadiens, once and for all.
The Canadiens were out-shot 11-6 in the final period but their goalie Carey Price played extremely well and blocked 31 of 32 shots throughout the game. Tim Thomas was lagging behind and managed to block only 25 of 27, but it could have also been due to the
player deficit as well.
"The power play's been struggling and they won the game because of that tonight, because of their power play," Boston centre Patrice Bergeron said. "We've got to find a way and bear down."
Both teams will be headed back to Boston for game seven on Wednesday. Montreal needs to execute their shots better and cannot only depend on power-play opportunities if they want to win the final match-up of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals. Boston
will certainly try to avoid penalties which could create problems for the Canadiens.
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