Matt Fraser pushed a puck past Carey Price on a goalmouth scramble early in overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 1-0 win Thursday in Montreal, to even the series at 2-2.
The play began when a puck bounced high off the glass behind the net and fell to the right of Price. Mike Weaver and his defence partner Douglas Murray scrambled madly to push back the Bruins but the puck fell to Matt Fraser, who pushed it home.
Fraser, who was called up from the American Hockey League for the game, scored the winner at 1:19 of the first overtime on assists by Carl Soderberg and Johnny Boychuk.
Carey Price turned back 32 shots and his Bruins' counterpart Tuukka Rask blocked 33 in the critical Game Four of the Montreal-Boston second round playoff series.
The game, a hard-hitting affair, was also clean, as Boston was penalized only once, while P.K. Subban and Alexei Emelin were the only Habs to be served up minors for hits along the boards.
Both teams appeared tentative in the first frame, a period that saw the teams produce more icings than a Betty Crocker factory, but the game opened up later, however neither team was able to finish on a fistful of opportunities.
The line of Lars Eller, Rene Bourque and Brian Gionta once again proved menacing, with a combed nine shots on net after three frames.
Eller, at one point, almost surprised Rask with a low shot from far out and Bourque later slid a puck just wide after edging by Boston defenceman Johnny Boychuk to get in along on Rask, while Gionta also had a good chance in alone on Rusk.
Patrice Bergeron led the Bruins with five shots while Torey Krug and Milan Lucic each managed four shots.
Third period
Although the Bruins have gained a reputation for coming out strong in the third period, it was the Habs who had the better opportunities, outshooting the Bruins 14-7, in spite of killing off the only penalty of the frame, served to Alexei Emelin, who was deemed to have roughed David Krejci on a bodycheck.
However Travis Moen almost orchestrated a shorthanded goal during the Emelin penalty, as he cut in front of Rask and Tomas Plekanec narrowly missed tapping it in.
Seconds later Riley Smith hit the goalpost for the Bruins, as his shot from the point banged off the iron to Price’s blocker side, it was the third goalpost for the Bruins on the evening. During the same penalty, Gionta found himself all alone in front of Rusk but failed to find him an opening, as Rask refused to move on Gionta's dekes.
Habs' veteran defenceman Douglas Murray later served out a trio of massive hits in the corner, taking down Carl Soderberg twice and Matt Fraser once.
Boston later came close to scoring in a moment of sustained pressure, after P.K. Subban batted a puck out of midair onto the stick of an onrushing Bruins, but Price managed to keep the puck out of his net after some confusion amid his troops.
The teams now return to Boston for Game Five.
