Saturday, Mar. 17 7:00pm ET
Bruins narrow gap on 'Canes to one point
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MONTREAL (AP) – The Boston Bruins are playing with a sense of
urgency in their push for a postseason berth.
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Sergei Samsonov scored two first-period goals and Eric Weinrich added a power-play goal against his former team as the Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 Saturday night.
Boston moved within one point of idle Carolina in the race for
the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
"We've played here in the past and we always know their team
comes out hard, especially in the first period," Samsonov said.
"They try to get the fans involved and get everything going, so we
prepared for it well, and I thought we played pretty well
defensively, too."
Bill Guerin had two assists for Boston, which outshot the
Canadiens 15-3 in the first period and 33-16 overall.
"That's not my strong point, but every now and then I guess you
have to do it," Guerin said. "I'd rather be shooting."
Samsonov opened the scoring 6:10 in and added his 25th goal at
18:08 when he fired a wrist shot over Montreal goalie Jose
Theodore.
"It's always easier to play with the lead," Samsonov said.
Weinrich, traded by the Canadiens to Boston for defenseman Patrick Traverse on Feb. 21, scored his first goal since joining
the Bruins on a power play 2:17 into the second after taking a pass
from Guerin.
"It was a great play by Billy Guerin," Weinrich said. "All I
had to do was sweep it in. I haven't had too much success since
I've been with Boston, and tonight it worked out nicely for me."
Weinrich's goal, his seventh of the season, gave Boston a
three-goal lead.
"Any team that gets ahead 3-0 usually wins the game,"
Canadiens captain Saku Koivu said. "We didn't show up for the
first 30 minutes of this game."
Johan Witehall backhanded a shot through the legs of Boston
goalie Byron Dafoe at 6:48 of the second. The goal was Witehall's
first since Jan. 24, 2000, when he scored in Atlanta as a member of
the New York Rangers.
"We were doing pretty well until that point," Samsonov said. "Our main focus was to keep going the same way and not spend too much time in our own end."
Defenseman Sheldon Souray fired a slap shot over Dafoe's left
shoulder at 3:30 of the third period as the Canadiens closed within
a goal.
"They played well," Guerin said. "On a shot like that -- Sheldon just absolutely cranked it, there's not much you can do."
Dafoe made 14 saves in his second straight start after missing
13 games with a strained hamstring.
He came up with big saves on Traverse and Richard Zednik
following Souray's goal to earn his first victory since Feb. 6.
"It's tough because you're not getting a lot of action," Dafoe
said. "And then they made it 3-2 at the start of the third and you
start to feel a little bit of heat. But we responded. I made a
couple of saves and generally we kept them out of getting any good
chances on me. We played a great all around game tonight."
Game notes
Dafoe is 15-11-6 in 34 games this season. ... Chad Kilger
returned to the Canadiens lineup after missing five games due to a
concussion. ... Center Jan Bulis, who was acquired by Montreal on
Tuesday, assisted on Witehall's goal. It was his first point with
the Canadiens.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
Montreal Clubhouse
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Colorado 5
Detroit 3
Los Angeles 1
San Jose 0
Philadelphia 2
NY Rangers 1
Toronto 5
Florida 3
Boston 3
Montreal 2
Buffalo 3
Washington 2
NY Islanders 3
Columbus 3
Tampa Bay 5
Pittsburgh 1
Nashville 4
Phoenix 1
St. Louis 2
Calgary 2
New Jersey 6
Edmonton 5
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jim Campbell's slapshot goes through Byron Dafoe's legs, but hits the post.
avi: 615 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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