Max Pacioretty scored 3:43 into overtime to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Boston Bruins on Saturday night in a battle of Original Six rivals.
The Bruins held a two-goal advantage late in the third period before the Canadiens rallied to tie the game.
Patrice Bergeron scored a pair of goals just over eight minutes apart in the second period for Boston.
His first came just four minutes into the session and he tallied again 12:27 into the period when he scooped up a loose puck in front of the Montreal net after a shot by captain Zdeno Chara hit a Canadiens defenseman. Bergeron wristed it past Carey Price for his 10th goal of the season.
Montreal cut the deficit in half on a power-play goal by Scott Gomez. The shot deflected off Chara and past goaltender Tim Thomas with 2:22 left in the game.
Chara nearly put the game away by flipping a shot the length of the ice and into an empty net, but the puck went inches wide. Then captain Brian Gionta tied the game with 47 seconds by deflecting a shot by defenseman James Wisniewski from the point.
Thomas made 39 saves in goal for Boston (21-13-6), while Price stopped 27 shots for the Canadiens (23-16-3).
Boston | Montreal | |
Patrice Bergeron 2 | Points | Max Pacioretty 2 |
Patrice Bergeron 2 | Goals | Max Pacioretty 1 |
Zdeno Chara 1 | Assists | Max Pacioretty 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Scott Gomez 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Tim Thomas .929 | Save Percentage | Carey Price .931 |
Tim Thomas 39 | Saves | Carey Price 27 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Boston | 29 | 2 | 0-3 | 2-3 | 21 | 29 |
Montreal | 42 | 3 | 1-3 | 3-3 | 21 | 38 |