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Bruins and Habs meet for Game 7 in Boston

Apr 27, 2011 - 3:15 PM (Sports Network) - A pair of Original Six rivals will meet in Boston for a decisive Game 7 tonight, as the Bruins welcome the Montreal Canadiens for the all-important test at TD Garden.

These clubs played just last night in Montreal and the Bruins had a chance to end the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at the Bell Centre. However, the Canadiens recorded a 2-1 victory in Game 6 to force this evening's final battle.

Michael Cammalleri continued to be an offensive force for the Canadiens, posting a goal and an assist in his club's close victory over the Bruins. Cammalleri, who tied a club record with 13 goals during Montreal's run to the conference finals last spring, has three goals and six assists in this series.

"We knew we were heading to Boston from the start of the game," said Cammalleri. "If you look at the game, the importance and the implications involved and out ability to do some things, it was one of our top efforts."

Brian Gionta scored the other goal as both of the Canadiens' tallies on Tuesday came on 5-on-3 advantages. Montreal finished 2-for-7 on the power play and killed off all four of Boston's chances with the man advantage.

Carey Price stopped 31 shots for the win and ended a lengthy home playoff drought. Price had been 0-7 at the Bell Centre in the playoffs since his last postseason win there on April 24, 2008.

"We were just battling to keep it out of our net in the third," said Price. "When it came down to it, we had a bunch of guys blocking shots tonight. We did everything we had to do to win the game. We are going to carry what we had into the next one."

Dennis Seidenberg had the lone goal while Tim Thomas stopped 25 shots for the Bruins, who had won three straight in the series after dropping Games 1 and 2 at home.

"Our power play is struggling lately," said Boston forward Patrice Bergeron. "They won the game tonight because of their power play. We have to make sure we find a way and bear down. It all comes down to one game so you have to make sure you're ready and play desperate."

Boston has never won a best-of-seven series after falling behind 2-0. Of course, the Bruins were eliminated from the postseason last year in a Game 7, as Boston lost the final four games to Philadelphia in the conference semis. It marked just the third time in NHL history that a team lost a series after leading three-games-to-none.

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.

The Canadiens and B's have met for seven Game 7s all-time and Montreal has won five of them.

Habs defenseman James Wisniewski is questionable for tonight's game after an undisclosed injury caused him to miss Game 6. Wisniewski has two assists in the series.

The Bruins could be down a key player tonight if the NHL decides to suspend forward Milan Lucic, who was given a major for boarding and a game misconduct in Game 6. Lucic drilled Canadiens defenseman Jaroslav Spacek from behind and into the boards early in the second period. Spacek was able to return to the game after being helped to the bench.

The Bruins had a 22-13-6 record at the Garden during the regular season and are 1-2 on home ice in this series. Montreal was 20-19-2 as the visiting team during the regular season.