Final
  for this game

Bruins aim to close out Habs in Montreal

Apr 26, 2011 - 3:10 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins will try to close out their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with Montreal tonight, when they visit the rival Canadiens at the Bell Centre for Game 6 of the best-of-seven set.

The third-seeded Bruins have reeled off three straight wins to take a 3-2 edge in the series. If Boston can win this series it will mark the first time the franchise has ever won a best-of-seven set after falling behind two-games-to- none.

The last two tests in this series have gone past regulation and Boston won Saturday's Game 5 in double overtime, as Nathan Horton scored at 9:03 of the final frame to give the Bruins their first lead of the series.

Horton's game-winning tally came on the rebound of a Milan Lucic deflection. Andrew Ference threw a shot on net from the top of the left circle that Lucic got a piece of and Carey Price stopped. The rebound, though, sat at the right side and Horton was there to slam it home for the 2-1 win.

"I saw the rebound come out, it was like it's in slow motion," said Horton. "It was just sitting there. It felt good to put that in the net. That was an exciting game to be a part of tonight."

Just a few minutes before Horton's goal, Boston netminder Tim Thomas kept the game alive with a beautiful save on Brian Gionta on a 2-on-1 break. Thomas made 44 stops for the Bruins, who also received a goal from Brad Marchand.

Jeff Halpern notched the lone goal for Montreal and Price made 49 stops for the Canadiens.

"We made a push late and had our chances," said Halpern. "But they had their chances too and they took advantage of one more than we did."

With Saturday's win, the Bruins became the first home team to win a game in this series and Montreal hopes to follow Boston's lead tonight. If the Canadiens are able to win tonight then Game 7 will be played Wednesday in Boston.

The Canadiens had a 24-11-6 record as the home club this season. Boston had a strong 24-12-5 mark as the road team.

While Boston is trying to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a series for the first time in club history, Montreal has lost four playoff series in which it has led 2-0. The last time the Habs coughed up a two-games-to-none lead was in the 2006 conference quarterfinals against Carolina.

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.

Canadiens defenseman James Wisniewski is questionable for tonight's game after an undisclosed injury caused him to see limited action in Game 5. Wisniewski has two assists in the series.