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Yelle, Sturm score twice as Bruins rout Canadiens

Nov 14, 2008 - 4:53 AM By Tony Lee PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Following a late-night battle in Chicago, an early-morning flight home and a visit from the dangerous Montreal Canadiens, the Boston Bruins had every excuse to let their winning ways come to an end.

This just might be a different Bruins team.

Marco Sturm and Stephane Yelle both scored twice and Manny Fernandez posted his third straight win as Boston skated to a 6-1 rout of the Canadiens on Thursday.

Shawn Thornton and Milan Lucic - who handily won a fight with Montreal defenseman Mike Komisarek late in the third period - also scored as the Bruins posted their fifth straight win and eighth in nine games. The triumph also snapped the Canadiens' 12-game winning streak in the series, the longest in the bitter history between the "Original Six" rivals.

"You lose (12) in a row, there's no question you lose some confidence," Bruins coach Claude Julien said of the slide. "But I don't think there's any complex anymore."

"We showed we can actually win against this team," said Fernandez, who made 27 saves. "Today was absolutely huge for us. To win against that team, knowing the history, especially last year, it was tough for us. It just seems like a different page this year."

Boston's last regular-season win in the series prior to Thursday came on March 3, 2007.

The Canadiens figured to have an upper hand heading in after spending the night in Boston while the Bruins were winning a shootout in Chicago. But Boston erased any ideas of a sluggish start with the first goal just 2:31 into the game and two more before the first period ended.

"Two games in two nights. I spent nine years in the minors, we would play three in three nights with 15 hours of travel," Thornton said. "This was a walk in the park as far as I am concerned. Everyone got their sleep, everyone was rested, there were no excuses in here, that's for sure."

Following a faceoff in the Canadiens' zone, Thornton picked up a loose puck, skated in cleanly on Carey Price and beat the goaltender for his first goal of the season to open the scoring.

Yelle notched his second tally of the campaign with three minutes left in the first to put the hosts ahead, 2-0, and an interference penalty on Montreal left wing Guillaume Latendresse moments later allowed the Bruins to go on the power play to finish the session.

They made it count with an electrifying goal just 6.4 seconds before the first intermission.

Former Canadien Michael Ryder found Marc Savard virtually alone to the left of Price. But instead of shooting, Savard waited as a streaking Sturm slid into the slot, where he one-timed the pass past Price for a three-goal cushion.

The quick start was just what Boston wanted.

"Two big games last couple of days," Yelle said. "We played hard last night. Today, we found a way to be ready early on."

Montreal, meanwhile, failed on its limited chances and was outhustled from the start. Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau was not shocked by Boston's effort.

"They lost 12 games in a row against us, so I knew they weren't going to come in here and play tired or act like they were tired," Carbonneau said. "We didn't really do anything against them. We didn't force them to be tired. We had no effort. We had no emotion."

Sturm's second goal also came on the power play 3:44 into the second to make it 4-0.



Captain Saku Koivu got Montreal on the board with 6:26 to go in the second, but Lucic scored off a faceoff and Yelle on a one-timer in the third to account for the final margin.

"It just shows that, a lot of times, fatigue is more of a mental question than anything else," Koivu said of Boston's ability to stay energized. "Maybe they felt tired, but they really wanted this game, and it showed."

Lucic credited the victory in Chicago on Wednesday for keeping the Bruins focused on the task at hand rather than getting too energized for another meeting with Montreal.

"It helped us out a lot," he said. "We were more calm and collected. We weren't all excited like we were in the past against these guys. We just had a good start and made sure we executed."

Lucic and Komisarek finally fought after a war of words that began during last season's Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, which was won by Montreal in seven games. The

20-year-old Lucic got the better of his opponent before skating to the box while pumping up the crowd and his teammates.

"We've had our battles in the past," Lucic said. "It was just a matter of time before something like that happened."

Price, who entered the game 6-0-0 lifetime against the Bruins, stopped 25 shots.

Carbonneau admitted he considered pulling the 21-year-old, who posted a shutout against Ottawa on Tuesday - just three days after allowing six goals against Toronto.

"I did at one point," Carbonneau said. "It's something he has to battle through. If we want to be successful, we need to have stability in net. We can't have six goals (against in) one game, be a shutout one game and (yield) six goals the next game."

Boston's fourth line accounted for three goals and four assists.