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Bruins still trying to figure out Canadiens

Apr 12, 2008 - 2:15 PM Boston at Montreal 7:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference quarterfinals Canadiens lead, 1-0

MONTREAL (Ticker) - The Montreal Canadiens had no trouble continuing their dominance of the Boston Bruins in Game One of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series on Thursday.

The Canadiens try to take a commanding two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven series on Saturday when they host the Bruins in Game Two.

Montreal registered their 12th consecutive victory over Boston and stayed perfect in nine games this season against their Northeast Division rivals with a dominating 4-1 victory Thursday.

Brothers Sergei and Andrei Kostitsyn each scored early in the first period while Bryan Smolinski - who was drafted 21st overall by Boston in 1990 - added his 23rd career playoff goal.

Tom Kostopoulos also tallied to propel the top-seeded Canadiens to the victory.

Despite Montreal's recent dominance against Boston and its lead in the series, Kostopoulos is keeping everything in perspective.

"We don't want to get too excited," Kostopoulos said. "We know it's just one game, the Bruins played hard. A couple of bounces and it could have been a different story but it was definitely an exciting game and one I'll never forget."

Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau agreed.

"We won one battle but there are still a lot of battles to be won," Carbonneau said. "We're not over-confident. I talked to the players, we have to enjoy this win, we did a lot of good things, but it's only one game.

"We still have to win three times and they won't get any easier, nothing gets any easier. They're going to make adjustments, they're going to play harder, play differently, we just have to be ready to adjust the same way and that's what we did (on Thursday)."

Defenseman Shane Hnidy netted the lone goal before the end of the opening period and All-Star Tim Thomas finished with 28 saves for Boston, which was down by two goals just three minutes into Game One.

"They came out hard and we didn't have a good start. Unfortunately, they scored two quick goals and put us on our heels," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. "We got one before the end of the first, but they made some quick plays and took it away from us."