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BOSTON — Montreal Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau was not speechless after his team suffered defensive lapse after defensive lapse on Saturday evening.
When it was his turn to sit at podium for his post-game remarks, 20 minutes after the pesky Boston Bruins forced a seventh and deciding game with a wild and wacky 5-4 victory at TD Banknorth Garden, the Canadiens bench boss sent a clear message to his high-scoring line of Alex Kovalev, Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn as well as veteran defenceman Roman Hamrlik.
"Our best players have to be our best players," Carbonneau said. "We just didn't react the right way. We had veteran guys on the ice every time and we didn't react well."
The Canadiens allowed three goals in the final seven minutes and 47 seconds of the third period, including Marco Sturm's winner with 2:37 left, and each time Kovalev, Plekanec and the older Kostitsyn were defending. Hamrlik was on the ice for the final two goals.
Montreal Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec celebrates his second-period goal as a fan reacts during Game 6 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final game in Boston on Saturday. (Winslow Townson/The Associated Press)
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- Boston Bruins
- Montreal Canadiens
- P.J. Axelsson
- Steve Begin
- Francis Bouillon
- Andrew Ference
- Christopher Higgins
- Shane Hnidy
- Phil Kessel
- Saku Koivu
- Guillaume Latendresse
- Milan Lucic
- Ryan O'Byrne
- Tomas Plekanec
- Carey Price
- Michael Ryder
- Marc Savard
- Mark Streit
- Marco Sturm
- Tim Thomas
- Aaron Ward
- Dennis Wideman
At the other end of the rink, the Canadiens big line just hasn't dominated the way it did in the regular season. Their lack of production is a big reason why the underdog Bruins, who not only lost each of the eight regular season meetings to their long-time rivals but finished 10 points behind Montreal in the standings, have forced a deciding game after trailing in the series 3-1.
Ironically, the last time Montreal celebrated a playoff series win was in 2004, when the then Claude Julien coached Canadiens overcame a 3-1 deficit to eliminate Boston.
Four years later, the Canadiens have dropped back-to-back games for the first time in a month to set up a pressure-packed deciding game at the Bell Centre on Monday.
"We just need to make sure it's not three in a row," said Canadiens goalie Carey Price, whose usual serene demeanor was nowhere to be found after the game.
Instead, Price was agitated at the probing questions from reporters and about the fact that he has now allowed 10 goals in two games after surrendering only five in the opening four matches of the series.
After Bruins first goal early in the second period, a wired Marc Savard taunted Price as Savard skated through the goalie's crease on his way back to the bench.
"Obviously, we have to take care of them in our own building," Price said. "We've worked all year [for the home-ice advantage]. We can't get too panicky at this point. They are playing well. We have to work harder. But they were the hungrier team."
The Canadiens suffered a similar fate as in the previous game, in which they played well enough for most of the game, but then unraveled in the late going to throw the game away.
Montreal held leads of 1-0 after the first period, 2-1 after 40 minutes and went up 3-2 on defenceman Francis Bouillon's goal at the midpoint of the final period. But the Bruins drew themselves even for the third time on rookie Milan Lucic's redirection goal and then went ahead on youngster Phil Kessel's second of the game.
"If he wants to keep proving me wrong, I can take it," said Bruins coach Claude Julien, who benched Kessel for games two, three and four and now has three goals in the past two games.
Kessel was holding his left arm in agony after the game and required treatement, but his coach said he's fine afterwards.
Montreal's Christopher Higgins scored to tie the game 4-4, but then Sturm exhibited tremendous patience to out-wait Price and deposit the winner. Sturm, one of the three players the Bruins acquired for Joe Thornton three years ago, also set up Kessel for Boston's fourth goal.
"It is a dream night that's for sure," Sturm said. "I knew I had a lot of time because two of their guys went to [linemate David] Krejci and suddenly I had no one around me."
The sixth game marked the return of Canadiens captain Saku Koivu and Bouillon. The two veterans missed the past three weeks with injuries. Koivu has a fractured bone in his left foot and Bouillon endured an ankle ailment.
Kessel badly beat Bouillon with an outside-inside move to tie the game at 1-1 early in the second period, but redeemed himself with his go-ahead goal in the third period. Koivu played well enough, earning assists on both goals from Higgins.
"At this point we can't get down," Koivu said.
"The bottom line is we can't worry about how well they are playing, but keep the focus on what we need to get back doing."
After Montreal's Tomas Plekanec scored a breakaway goal when he exited the penalty box to take a pass from Steve Begin, it was Boston rookie Vladimir Sobotka who tied the game at 2-2 early in the third period.
The Bruins held a 36-35 advantage in shots on goal.
"We played consistently well until all that happened in the third period," Higgins said. "We need to play better with the lead.
"That was crazy. You don't expect that to happen, especially with two teams that play such good defence."
