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Price, Canadiens look to eliminate Bruins

Apr 19, 2008 - 12:53 PM Montreal at Boston 7:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference quarterfinals Canadiens lead, 3-2

BOSTON (Ticker) - Rookie goaltender Carey Price will hope to bounce back from a shaky outing as the Montreal Canadiens try to oust the Boston Bruins from the playoffs when the teams meet for Game Six of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Glen Metropolit snapped a tie 3 1/2 minutes into the third period after a miscue by Price and the eighth-seeded Bruins remained alive against the top-seeded Canadiens by posting a 5-1 victory in Game Five on Thursday.

"We stuck to our game plan and got some bounces," Metropolit said. "I think the hockey gods owed us one or two. We're not getting too high or too low. We know how good they are and how good they can be."

Phil Kessel, captain Zdeno Chara, Marco Sturm and rookie Vladimir Sobotka also scored for the Bruins, who still trail three-games-to-two in the best-of-seven series.

"I've never seen a team down 3-2 in control," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We have to win the next game or we're going home. It's as simple as that."

With the game tied at 1-1 after two periods, the 20-year-old Price made a crucial error early in the third that led to the eventual winning goal.

After snagging a loose puck out of mid-air with his glove, Price tried to get creative and dropped it in front of his crease for Maxim Lapierre. However, Metropolit came from behind the net, pounced on the puck and deposited it into the goal at 3:31 for his first career postseason tally and a 2-1 edge.

"It's tough when you have a chance to put a team out," Price said. "It was my first bad game in 12 starts. It's going to happen eventually. Fortunately for us, we have two more cracks at it."

Alexei Kovalev netted the lone goal for the Canadiens, whose top-ranked power play during the regular season failed to score on four opportunities.

"We aren't working, that's the bottom line," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said of his team's lack of success with the man advantage. "I wouldn't say it didn't work in all the games, but tonight, we didn't work. ... We didn't work as a unit, which we did most of the year."