HABS BEAT BRUINS IN OT
Petry scores winner, Price masterful
BOSTON Jeff Petry scored the winning goal at 15 seconds into overtime to give the Canadiens a 3-2 win over the Bruins Monday at TD Garden.
David Krejci scored a power-play goal with 37.6 seconds remaining in the third period to send the game into overtime. The Bruins were handed the advantage when Michael Chaput was whistled off for delay of game at 17:55 and Boston had a 6-on-4 advantage after pulling goaltender Tuukka Rask.
Carey Price turned in a masterful performance as he made 41 saves. The Bruins outshot the Canadiens 43-22 but Price was the difference, just as he was here back on Oct. 27 when he shut out the Bruins.
Price is playing some of his best hockey of the season, While he has a 3-3-0 record in his last six starts, he has allowed only nine goals in the six games and he has two shutouts.
The win moved the Canadiens back into the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference as they leap-frogged over the New York Islanders, who have three games in hand. The Canadiens are two points behind the third-place Bruins in the Atlantic Division standings, and three points back of the second-place Toronto Maple Leafs.
Paul Byron gave the Canadiens their first lead when he scored a shorthanded goal at 17:09 of the second period. Byron chipped the puck off the boards in the Montreal zone and then used his speed to catch up to it. He skated in alone on Tuukka Rask and lifted a backhander over Rask’s glove hand. It was Byron’s 10th goal of the season and his first since he scored the overtime winner in Las Vegas on Dec. 22. He had gone nine games without a goal. It was a leagueworst 10th shorthanded goal allowed by the Bruins this season.
The Bruins dominated the first period, but the Canadiens escaped with a 1-1 tie as Brendan Gallagher scored with 1:33 remaining in the period. Gallagher was in his office in front of the net when he deflected Petry’s shot from the blue-line. It was Gallagher’s 18th of the season, and he has scored in three of the last four games.
The Canadiens had difficulty getting the puck out of their zone and went 9:40 without a shot before Gallagher scored. Montreal may have received a lift from Nicolas Deslauriers, who engaged Kevan Miller in an entertaining slugfest that saw both players unload left-handed haymakers at 16:20.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Brad Marchand at 14:09 while the teams were playing 4-on4. Patrice Bergeron set up Marchand, who unleashed a shot from the faceoff circle and beat Price high on the glove side for his 17th goal of the season.
Marchand was active in the first period. Price stopped him on a clean breakaway after Joel Armia was hung up in the neutral zone. Moments later, Marchand was stopped on another shot off a rush.
The Canadiens are back at the Bell Centre Tuesday to play the Florida Panthers (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).