• Recap
• Bleachers

Plekanec does in Bruins again

Sep 28, 2007 - 2:06 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Tomas Plekanec is proving to be a thorn in the side of the Boston Bruins.

Plekanec scored what proved to be the winning goal midway through the second period as the Montreal Canadiens closed out the home portion of their preseason schedule Thursday night with a 3-2 win over the Bruins.

It was the second loss Boston suffered at the hands of Montreal in less than a week. In Halifax, Nova Scotia on Sunday, the Canadiens pulled out a 4-3 victory behind a natural hat trick by Plekanec.

With Montreal already holding a 2-1 lead in this one, Boston center Marc Savard was called for high-sticking at 11:54 of the middle period. Less than a minute into the power play, Plekanec corralled his own rebound and fired the puck between the pads of goaltender Tim Thomas at 12:38 for a two-goal advantage.

Defenseman Andrew Ference pulled Boston back within one when he ripped a shot from just inside the left point that beat netminder Cristobal Huet with 1:58 to go in the session. But Huet turned aside all 12 shots he faced in the third period to preserve the triumph.

Boston established a 1-0 lead at 18:32 of the first period, capitalizing on a 6-on-4 opportunity. With Ryan O'Byrne already in the box serving a roughing minor, fellow Montreal defenseman Francis Bouillon was about to receive a penalty.

After Thomas raced to the bench for an extra attacker during the delayed call, Marco Sturm banged in the puck from near the left goalpost for a power-play tally.

Alexei Kovalev and defenseman Andrei Markov scored 74 seconds apart early in the middle session to give the Canadiens a 2-1 edge.

Kovalev forged a tie when he converted a pass from blue-liner Mark Streit. Markov beat Thomas high to the stick side with a wrister from the top of the right faceoff circle.

Huet finished with 30 saves for Montreal, while Thomas stopped 22 shots for Boston.

Savard collected two assists for the Bruins.