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NHL: Canadiens down Bruins, Kovalev scores powerplay

Tim Thomas, left, of the Boston Bruins makes a save on Alex Kovalev, second left, of the Montreal Canadiens while Andrew Ference, third left, of the Boston Bruins defends during game two of their NHL game on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. PHOTO: AFP

Alex Kovalev scored a power-play goal 2:30 into overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night and a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Kovalev drove a slap shot past Tim Thomas from the left side as Montreal took advantage of consecutive penalties to Boston’s Shawn Thornton and Jeremy Reich.

Thornton got a double-minor for high sticking with 2:17 left in the third when the Bruins forward’s stick came up and struck Montreal’s Tom Kostopoulos in the face, drawing blood and an automatic — and ill-timed — 4 minutes in penalties.

The Canadiens were unable to score on that advantage but broke through after Reich was sent off for tripping Andrei Markov with 12 seconds remaining in Thornton’s second minor.

Montreal has won 13 in a row against Boston, which claimed just one point — a shootout loss — out of a possible 16 in losing eight regular-season games against the Canadiens this season.

Roman Hamrlik scored late in the first and Canadiens rookie Sergei Kostitsyn scored his second goal in two playoff games 1:30 into the middle period to put Montreal up 2-0. The Bruins tied it at 2 midway through the third on David Krejci’s first playoff goal after Peter Schaefer drew Boston to 2-1 earlier in the period.



In other games, it was:

• Red Wings 4, Predators 2

• Stars 5, Ducks 2
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