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Canadiens score five straight goals to down Bruins

Mar 23, 2007 - 5:22 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- A late barrage kept the Montreal Canadiens surging and provided two very important points.

The Canadiens overcame a two-goal deficit by scoring five straight goals, including four on as many shots in the third period, en route to a 6-3 victory over the bumbling Boston Bruins.

Mike Johnson, rookie Maxim Lapierre and Chris Higgins scored in a 2:16 span of the final session for Montreal, which completed a sweep of a home-and-home series with Boston for the first time since 1981. On Tuesday, the Canadiens skated to a 1-0 triumph at the Bell Centre.

More importantly, Montreal (38-31-6) notched two points to remain tied for eighth in the Eastern Conference with Carolina (37-29-8), which edged Washington. The idle Toronto Maple Leafs (35-28-10) fell two points back in the battle for the final playoff spot.

"We know what we have to do until the end of the season to be in the playoffs," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "All the teams around us are playing each other and we just have to win as much as we can."

The Bruins led, 3-1, but watched their slim postseason hopes fade even further after surrendering five unanswered goals. Boston (34-34-5) lost for the sixth time in eight games and fell nine points out of the final playoff berth.

"We should be able to slow down the type of momentum (Montreal had), but tonight, I wasn't able to do that," Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas said. "It certainly is tough for anybody (to be in this position). Tonight, we got so uptight, we didn't allow ourselves to have fun with this, and that was part of what went wrong."

Tomas Plekanec began the outburst with his 18th goal of the season with 1:49 left in the second to cut the Canadiens' deficit to 3-2. The Czech wristed a rebound past Thomas after the netminder made a brilliant stop of his initial shot from the doorstep.

"That goal we scored at the end of the second gave us some momentum a little bit," Carbonneau said. "In the third period, they gave (up) a lot of goals and we knew if we could get close and stay close, we would have a chance to win.

"Tonight, I think we were just lucky. In the first two periods, we didn't play very well, and the second period, especially."

Montreal carried the momentum into the third. Johnson scored his 11th on a power play at 6:35, Lapierre followed at 8:02 and Higgins netted his 20th goal 49 seconds later for a 5-3 lead.

"Our forwards were great in the third period, they kept the pressure on (Boston) and they were able to find a way to score," Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak said. "I just tried to keep my team in it in the first two periods."

Johnson's tally came with three seconds remaining on the power play, when he took a pass between the faceoff circles from Plekanec and beat Thomas to the stick side. Lapierre flipped in a centering pass from defenseman Mark Streit from the slot and Higgins tallied on a wraparound at the right goalpost.

"We played well in the first two periods, but in the third, it just got away," Boston captain Zdeno Chara said. "We made too many mental mistakes, and that's something we have to get better at and learn from. It's a game of mistakes and a game of goals, and unfortunately, when we score, we get really excited and we think too much."

Michael Ryder capped the scoring with a man-advantage goal with 6:23 left in the game.

"It's not often you see four goals in (four) shots, but we were due to score some goals and some guys made some nice plays and some good shots," Ryder said. "We needed them."

Halak stopped 32 shots to post his third straight win for Montreal, which has won five of six after losing 11 of 15.

"I thought Halak was really good and gave us the chance to come back in the game," Carbonneau said.