May 1, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban (76) takes a shot on goal during the first period against the Boston Bruins in game one of the second round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Subban the Hero
An exhilarating Game 1 at the TD Garden was expected, and the Montreal Canadiens downed the Boston Bruins in the 2nd OT of a stimulating contest for all hockey fans.
P.K. Subban netted two power-play goals, including the overtime winner.
Goals and OT Chances
In the first period, Matt Bartkowski is penalized with a tripping call, and the Canadiens went on the man advantage. P.K. Subban capitalized on a nicely-navigated wrist shot from the point, dodging traffic in front of the net and beating Tuukka Rask.
Three minutes into the second period, the Canadiens took a two-goal lead when Rene Bourque sprung free off of a misconnection between Bruins’ defensemen Johnny Boychuk and Torey Krug. The 32-year-old winger zipped a shot past Rask on his blocker side.
Patrice Bergeron blocked Carey Price‘s angle in front of the goal about two minutes into the third period, allowing Reilly Smith to whip a low wrist shot on frame that met twine. The B’s halved the Canadiens’ score, now 2-1.
Nearly midway through the final period, Milan Lucic flew into Montreal’s end before stopping on a dime and feeding Krug on the left, who smoked a slap shot near the faceoff circle to tie the game, 2-2.
Francis Bouillon recaptured the advantage for the Canadiens from a well-aimed try at the point, but the Bruins wouldn’t die. Under the two minute mark, Boychuck blasted a fierce slap shot that Price had little opportunity to save.
Overtime commenced, and the Bruins mustered several great chances in the 1st OT, most notably Carl Soderberg‘s attempt on the doorstep that took a strange bounce to trickle centimeters wide of the post.
David Krejci nearly capped off some excellent passing combinations up ice, only to watch Price stretch out to stop his close-range backhander dead in its tracks.
Lars Eller produced the best Canadiens scoring chance until Bartkowski was called for holding and Subban struck the game-winner, a magnificent slap shot from a talented skater. Rask didn’t get a clean look amongst traffic, too, and there you have it, the Canadiens take Game 1 in Boston.
Price made a whopping 48 stops to Rask’s 29.
The Bruins will clash with Montreal in Game 2 at the Garden–Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET.