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Brisebois, Price lift Canadiens past Bruins

Apr 16, 2008 - 4:06 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The National Hockey League's best power play during the regular season finally showed up Tuesday night.

Defenseman Patrice Brisebois scored with 42 seconds remaining in the second period and 20-year-old rookie Carey Price stopped all 27 shots he faced to record his first career postseason shutout as the Montreal Canadiens skated to a 1-0 triumph over the Boston Bruins in Game Four of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series on Tuesday.

As a result, the Canadiens silenced an electric sellout crowd at TD Banknorth Garden and took a commanding three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series, which they can close out when they host Game Five on Thursday.

"They grind it out," Price said of the Bruins. "I thought we did a really did good job of playing that style as well. We have a lot talent in this room, and we have a lot of heart, too. We battled hard."

"We knew tonight was going to be a hard game," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "They challenged us the last two games. We've kind of responded at times. We knew this game was really a must. We needed to win tonight to hopefully finish it at home."

All-Star Tim Thomas made 27 saves on his 34th birthday for Boston, which snapped a 13-game losing streak to its "Original Six" rival on Sunday with a 2-1 overtime victory.

After failing on their first two power plays, which put them at 1-for-20 in the series, the Canadiens finally broke through when Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference was whistled for tripping with 1:48 remaining in the second.

Andrei Kostitsyn controlled the puck behind Thomas and tried a wraparound shot. The netminder stopped the attempt with his stick, but the loose puck bounced out to Brisebois, who fired a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.

The puck sailed through a screen and over Thomas' right shoulder for the lone goal of the game.

"It was on a power play. Andrei Kostitsyn was behind the net and tried to do the wraparound," Brisebois said. "The puck came out right on my blade. It was not a shot to go for a rebound or deflect it. I saw the hole and I just wanted to put my heart and my Sherwood on it - and it was a good feeling, to tell you the truth."

"The puck actually bounced off my stick and went right to him," Thomas said. "I saw him winding up and then somewhere in there, I lost it. Then I heard it hit the crossbar, heard the crowd cheer, so I thought it went up into the netting and it was out of play. Then I saw the Montreal (fans) celebrating and realized it must be in."

The Bruins had numerous chances in the first period but failed to capitalize.

Just two minutes in, Glen Murray was denied from in close by Price after a breakdown by Montreal's defensemen at the blue line.

"We had some point-blankers," Bruins All-Star center Marc Savard said. "I look at the first shift, (Murray) right in front, he didn't get good wood on it. We were all around their net, the rebounds were there and we couldn't seem to get a stick on it. We've just got to stick with it. We know Price is playing well and it's going to take a lot more than what we gave tonight."

"That's the playoffs," Price said. "It seems like every goal counts, every goal matters, and you've got to try and do your best every game or else it's going to bite you. Sometimes, one goal is all you need, sometimes one goal against is all they need. That's just the way it goes."

Midway through the first, rookie David Krejci fed Marco Sturm at Montreal's blue line while shorthanded for a breakaway. Price failed in his effort to play the puck, leaving an empty net for Sturm, whose shot sailed high.

"The bottom line is, when we had a chance to capitalize tonight, we had some great opportunities, we didn't bury them," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Sometimes it's those little details that make a big difference."

Less than a minute later, Sturm fed a wide-open Krejci, who redirected the pass just wide of Price. Rookie Vladimir Sobotka had the fourth point-blank chance of the first, but again Price came up big.

"He's in a zone," Carbonneau said of Price. "I know he's a rookie, a 20-year-old, but he's really strong mentally. He uses his size really well, and I think right now, he's in that comfort zone, and it's going to be really tough to get him out of it."

Price became the first rookie goaltender since Montreal's Steve Penney to shut out Boston in a playoff game. Penney blanked the Bruins, 5-0, on April 7, 1984 in an Adams Division semifinal game.