Bruins, Lightning headed for round 2

4/27/2011
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Montreal Canadiens center Jeff Halpern (15) looks up as Boston Bruins players celebrate the game-winning goal by Nathan Horton in overtime.
Montreal Canadiens center Jeff Halpern (15) looks up as Boston Bruins players celebrate the game-winning goal by Nathan Horton in overtime.

Bruins 4, Canadiens 3

BOSTON — Nathan Horton scored 5:43 into overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series.

The Bruins will play the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second consecutive year.

Tim Thomas stopped 34 shots for the Bruins, who recovered after losing the first two games of the series at home. Boston had never won a playoff series after trailing 0-2 in 26 tries.

Carey Price stopped 30 shots for Montreal, which erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 in Game 7.

It was Boston’s third overtime win in the series, including Game 5 on Saturday night when Horton scored 9:03 into the second extra period.

Johnny Boychuk and Mark Recchi scored in the first 5:33 of Game 7 to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. But Yannick Weber made it a one-goal game with a power-play goal in the first. Tomas Plekanec tied it in the second with an unassisted, short-handed goal.

After Chris Kelly scored with just under 10 minutes left to give Boston a 3-2 lead, P.K. Subban tied it in the final two minutes — again on the power play.<

 

Lightning 1, Penguins 0

PITTSBURGH — Dwayne Roloson made 36 saves for his second NHL playoff shutout, Sean Bergenheim scored, and Tampa Bay completed a big series comeback and eliminated Pittsburgh with a shutout win in Game 7.

Roloson became the second goalie to go 6-0 in elimination games. He allowed only four goals in winning the final three games as Tampa Bay erased a 3-1 series deficit. The fifth-seeded Lightning will face the top-seeded Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Penguins lost their second consecutive Game 7 and fell to 2-6 in such deciding games at home.

Bergenheim’s goal 5:41 into the second period was his third in the final four games of the series. Tampa Bay hadn’t advanced in the playoffs since winning the Stanley Cup in 2004. The Lightning are 3-0 in Game 7s.

Despite a 36-23 edge in shots, the Sidney Crosby-less Penguins lost three consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 27, 2009-Jan. 3, 2010 — a span of 141 games.