P.K. Subban combined with Carey Price to play hero as the Norris-winning defenceman scored his second goal of the game on the powerplay at 4:17 of second overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win over Boston Thursday.
Subban blasted a slapshot from the point that got by Tuukka Rask's glove hand to win a game which saw the Bruins outshoot the Canadiens 51-33. Andrei Markov and Daniel Briere collected assists onthe goal scored at 4:17 of the second overtime.
The Habs had a man advantage after Matt Bartkowski hauled down Dale Weise in the crease seven seconds earlier.
Carey Price stopped 48 of the 51 shots he faced, many in spectacular fashion to keep the Canadiens close throughout. The Bruins outshot the Canadiens 36-23 in regulation time and 14-6 in the first overtime period.
The Habs looked like they were going to win in regulation until Johnny Boychuk scored his first goal of the playoffs with under two minutes remaining to give the Boston Bruins a 3-3 tie going into overtime.
Boychuk threaded a slapshot from the point past Brandon Prust and Subban and finally Price to put an end to an intense sequence of pressure in the Canadiens' zone. Brad Marchand and Loui Eriksson earned assists on the goal.
The Habs looked poised to take the victory after Francis Bouillon took advantage of some confusion in the Boston zone to swoop in and score his first goal of the playoffs.
The 38-year-old defenceman crept in from the point and banged home a pass from Brian Gionta to give the Canadiens' a 3-2 lead over Boston at 12:09 of the third period.
The goal came following a bout of rare intense pressure in the Boston zone as Rene Bourque and Gionta both earned helpers after sowing confusion in the Boston defence.
A pair of third period goals by Reilly Smith and Torey Krug, scored under four minutes apart, allowed the host Bruins to wipe out a two-goal Canadiens' lead and leave things tied 2-2.
Smith scored at 2:44 of the third while his squad was down 2-0, by shooting a wrist shot from the boards to Price's left. Price, crouched low to attempt to see the shooter, failed to see the puck as it flew by on his short side.
Krug then scored at 6:30 after he was left alone in the circle. He managed to get a puck by Travis Moen, who partially blocked Price's view when attempting to block the puck.
Prior to that, goals by P.K. Subban and Rene Bourque combined with some stellar goalltending by Price to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead over the Boston Bruins after two periods.
The Canadiens opened the scoring at 11:23 of the first period when P.K. Subban threaded a wrist shot past Tuukka Rask from the blueline on a power play to put the Canadiens up 1-0.
Andrei Markov and Tomas Plekanec collected assists on the ice-breaker, scored as Boston defenceman Matt Bartkowski was serving a penalty for tripping Habs’ forward Dale Weise.
The Habs doubled their lead when Rene Bouque scored his fourth goal in five playoff games after he shifted into the slot on a two-on-one and fired a low wrist shot by Rask at 3:38 of the second period. Lars Eller collected an assist on the play.
Price made a series of acrobatic saves in the second period to keep Boston off the scoreboard. He also got help from a goalpost, which was struck while Boston put some intense pressure on the Canadiens while Josh Gorges sat in the penalty box, serving Montreal's only penalty of the game until that point.
