Canadiens roll, force Game 7
Shutout by Price helps send series back to Boston.
Carey Price made 26 saves for the shutout and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 4-0 on Monday night to force Game 7.
Thomas Vanek scored twice and Lars Eller and Max Pacioretty also scored for Montreal, which overwhelmed the Bruins to tie the series at 3-3.
Game 7 is Wednesday night in Boston.
Eller opened the scoring just 2:11 into the game after the Bruins misplayed the puck and Eller was alone in front of the net to beat a sprawled out Tuukka Rask.
Pacioretty made it 2-0 after scoring on a long stretch pass through Rask’s legs in the second period.
Before the period was over Vanek scored on the power play. Vanek added his second of the game into an empty net late in the third.
Rask finished with 24 saves for the Bruins.
Blackhawks seek another kill shot: Higher-seeded teams with the lead in a best-of-seven series over the history of the NHL playoffs have had plenty of trouble putting the opponent away.
Sometimes the brink of elimination has been what truly gets a team going.
Consider the Chicago Blackhawks, though, when their foe is down. An ability to swoop down and delivering the finishing victory has become a clear trait of this team since coach Joel Quenneville took over and stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews arrived.
“The bigger the setting, the bigger the stage, they seem to rise to that challenge,” Quenneville said.
Since 2009, the first postseason appearance for Kane and Toews, the Blackhawks have not lost in any of the seven playoff series they’ve been in that were tied after four games. That’s a 13-0 record in Games 5 and 6 of such matchups that were even at two each, including the Stanley Cup finals in 2010 against Philadelphia and 2013 against Boston.
They’ll test that perfect mark once more on Tuesday in Game 6 against the Minnesota Wild, who fell behind 3-2 in this Western Conference semifinal series after losing 2-1 in Chicago on Sunday.
During the Kane-Toews era, the Blackhawks are 11-2 in games played with a chance to win a series.
They’re 5-1 on the road, with the only losses in those clinching situations against Vancouver, in 2011 in Game 7 of the first round and in 2010 in Game 5 of the second round.
They rebounded in 2010 to win Game 6 and advance.
Injured Blackhawks forward Andrew Shaw will miss his fifth straight game.
Quenneville says Shaw’s lower-body injury is progressing, but he won’t make the trip.