Bruins 5 - 4 Canadiens
Final - OT
  for this game

Bruins try to even series in Game 4 at Montreal

Apr 21, 2011 - 3:02 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins will try to draw even in the best-of- seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals when they visit the rival Montreal Canadiens for a pivotal Game 4 at the Bell Centre.

The third-seeded Bruins entered this series as favorites over their Northeast Division foes, but Montreal jumped out to a two games to none lead by posting a pair of wins in Boston.

Boston, however, was able to get on the board with Monday's Game 3 victory in Montreal and the division champions will try to even the set with another road win tonight.

The Bruins, who will host Game 5 on Saturday, had a strong 24-12-5 mark as the visiting club in 2010-11.

Rich Peverley's goal early in the second period proved to be the game-winning tally as the Bruins posted a 4-2 win in Game 3. Tim Thomas, who is a leading candidate for this year's Vezina Trophy, also made 34 saves to help the Bruins get back on track.

"I was lucky to be able to hold them tonight," said Thomas. "Not too many rebounds. It's about time, I was happy to get this win, I needed it. It all worked out good."

David Krejci and Nathan Horton had first period goals while Chris Kelly's empty-netter sealed the win for the Bruins, who had managed just one goal in the first two games.

The Bruins had star defenseman Zdeno Chara back on the ice Monday after he sat out Game 2 with dehydration. He had an assist in the game and played over 26 minutes.

"Chara makes a huge difference, he's one of the more important players in the league and the most important on this team," said Thomas. "It's harder to play without him. The last game we weren't able to get it done without him."

Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn each lit the lamp while Carey Price, who stopped 65 shots in the first two games, was tagged for three goals on 24 shots in the loss.

"We weren't as focused as we were in Boston," said Price. "They were buzzing in the first half with a full court press. They traded a lot of opportunities off their forecheck and we were sitting back on our heels in the beginning."

The sixth-seeded Canadiens have won 48-of-52 all-time series in which they've held a two games to none lead. Meanwhile, Boston is 0-26 when falling behind 2-0 in a series.

This is the 33rd playoff series between these two Original Six rivals. It is the most two teams have faced off in the playoffs and Montreal has won 24 of them. However, Boston has claimed five of the previous eight series and swept the Habs in four games the last time the two clubs met in the 2009 quarterfinals.

The Canadiens had a 24-11-6 record as the home club this season.

On the injury front, Montreal is hoping to have forward Jeff Halpern back on the ice tonight. Halpern has been sidelined since late March with a lower body injury, but he could play for the first time in this series tonight.






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