Canadiens at Bruins
After getting outplayed in the first three contests by his fellow Olympian, Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins got the better of Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens to even their Eastern Conference second-round series at two games apiece. Rask looks to keep the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins heading in the right direction when they host the Canadiens in Game 5 on Saturday. Rask turned aside all 33 shots he faced and Matt Fraser scored 1:19 into overtime in his postseason debut as Boston posted a 1-0 triumph on Thursday.
Recording shutouts is nothing new for the Vezina Trophy finalist, who led the NHL with seven during the regular season and has registered five in his career during the playoffs. The power outage took some of the steam out of the Canadiens, who set the tone early in the series by taking away home-ice advantage with a 4-3 double-overtime victory in Game 1. "You've got to regroup and realize the situation we're in," Price said. "The series is tied 2-2. The series in best-of-three now."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, RDS
ABOUT THE CANADIENS: Fraser scored his overtime goal after gaining a step on Montreal defenseman Douglas Murray, who was the target of many for just being on the ice during a critical situation. "They were physical, blocked shots and contained well," coach Michel Therrien said in defense of Murray and partner Mike Weaver. Signed as a free agent last summer, Murray has lowered the boom with a team-leading 11 hits in the last two contests but has been on the ice for just 12 shot attempts by Montreal and 42 by Boston.
ABOUT THE BRUINS: Recalled from Providence of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, Fraser took a major step forward in regard to job security by scoring the only goal of the contest in Game 4. "I want to make sure I'm not just a one-hit wonder," Fraser said. Far from it in the minds of Bruins fans, who may remember defenseman Torey Krug traveling a similar path from Providence to score an overtime goal against the New York Rangers in the second round of last year's playoffs.
OVERTIME
1. Eight of Boston's 11 goals in the series have been scored in the third period.
2. Montreal RW Thomas Vanek, who netted two power-play goals in Game 2, did not record a shot on Thursday.
3. The Bruins are 0-for-8 on the power play in the series and haven't scored with the man advantage in their last 37 chances versus the Canadiens in the playoffs.