Days of Our Lives / Video: Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus
MONTREAL -- P.K. Subban produced his fifth multipoint game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a goal and an assist in the first period Tuesday, and the Montreal Canadiens held on for a 4-2 win against the Boston Bruins in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Second Round series.
Lars Eller scored into an empty net with 2.8 seconds remaining. Tomas Plekanec and Dale Weise scored, and Carey Price made 26 saves for Montreal, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series that continues Thursday at Bell Centre (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).
Boston coach Claude Julien pulled goalie Tuukka Rask with more than two minutes remaining in the third period, and Andrej Meszaros scored to make it a one-goal game with 2:16 to go.
Patrice Bergeron scored for a second straight game late in the second period to draw Boston within 3-1. Rask stopped 22 shots.
Subban, who leads NHL defensemen with 11 points in these playoffs, extended his point streak to six games (3-8-11) with his third straight multipoint game.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Subban is the third Canadiens defensemen to have three straight multipoint games in the playoffs, joining Larry Robinson, who accomplished the feat in 1987 and in 1978, when he had a five-game multipoint streak, and J.C. Tremblay in 1971.
Subban had one multipoint game in 26 postseason games prior to these playoffs.
Elias said Subban is the first Canadiens defenseman to have a six-game playoff point streak since Robinson did in Montreal's second-round series against the Quebec Nordiques from April 21-May 2, 1985.
Montreal's special-teams advantage through the first two games in Boston was not a factor in Game 3, when one minor penalty was called against each team.
The Canadiens, who scored on four of their first nine power-play opportunities in the series, got their chance with the man-advantage at 8:44 of the third period. The Canadiens were unable to take advantage after Carl Soderberg was called for interfering with Price, whose mask was knocked off by the Bruins forward.
Ginette Reno drove the Bell Centre crowd into a frenzy when she performed a stirring a capella rendition of "O Canada." The Canadiens were 2-0 at Bell Centre in their first-round sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning, with Reno performing the Canada national anthem before each home game.
The capacity crowd gasped with delight when Subban found Rene Bourque open at the Boston blue line a minute into the game with a stretch pass from behind the Canadiens goal. Bourque, who missed Montreal's practice Monday because of illness, failed to convert the opportunity.
Plekanec gave Montreal a 1-0 lead with his third playoff goal at 10:57 of the first period. Subban dropped the puck along the right boards to Thomas Vanek, who one-timed a slap pass to the left of the net. Plekanec had Rask at his mercy and lifted a shot into a gaping net.
Subban, who scored two power-play goals in the Canadiens' 4-3 double-overtime win in Game 1, drew the only penalty through the first two periods when he was called for roughing at 12:38 of the first for his open-ice hit on Reilly Smith. The Canadiens sustained collateral damage on the hit when Subban collided with Vanek, who went to the dressing room and did not return until the beginning of the second period.
Not only did Boston fall to 0-for-6 with the man advantage in the series when it failed to score on the power play, but Subban came out of the penalty box to take a breakaway pass from Eller. The Canadiens defenseman drove in alone on Rask and deked before firing a forehand into the open right side for his third goal in three games.
The Bruins had a couple of scoring opportunities before the midway point of the second period. Jarome Iginla's shot from the right side rang off the left post. Moments later, Soderberg misfired from the edge of the crease on a chance with Price down on the ice.
Weise increased Montreal's lead to 3-0 with a breakaway goal at 13:52 of the second. Canadiens defenseman Mike Weaver blocked a shot, and Daniel Briere fed a long pass up the middle to Weise, who got behind Bruins defensemen Johnny Boychuk and Meszaros.
Weise, who scored in overtime to give Montreal a 5-4 win in its opener against the Lightning, drove in alone from the Boston blue line and fired a shot between Rask's pads for his second goal of the playoffs.
Bergeron, who scored the tying goal Saturday in the Bruins' 5-3 come-from-behind win in Game 2, won a faceoff and set himself up to deflect Torey Krug's point shot past Price for his third goal of the playoffs at 17:48.
Canadiens forward Brandon Prust was scratched, with Travis Moen in the lineup for the second time in three games. Defenseman Douglas Murray was paired with Mike Weaver in place of Francis Bouillon in his Montreal playoff debut. Murray got a huge cheer in the first period when his check along the left boards dropped Bergeron to the ice at the Canadiens blue line.
Julien used the same lineup as Game 2.
The Bold and the Beautiful: How It All Began / Work From Home
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99
Babe Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonthman.html
No comments:
Post a Comment