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Canadiens hold on to force Game 7 tomorrow, beat Bruins 2-1

Boston Bruins v Montreal Canadiens - Game Six

MONTREAL, CANADA - APRIL 26: Brian Gionta #21;P.K. Subban #76;Tomas Plekanec #14;Scott Gomez #11 and Michael Cammalleri #13 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrate a goal against the Boston Bruins in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on April 26, 2011 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images)

Phillip MacCallum

It can’t be a Bruins-Canadiens game in Montreal without massive amounts of controversy. Tonight’s game provided enough from all angles to keep tinfoil hat wearers for both teams busy for the next year. In spite of all that, the Canadiens pulled a 2-1 win out in Game 6 to force a Game 7 tomorrow night in Boston.

The controversy began three minutes into the game when an apparent goal by Brian Gionta after a big rebound from Tim Thomas (25 saves) was put home for an apparent goal. The problem being that referee Kevin Pollock had blown the play dead after losing sight of the puck from his position on the opposite side of Thomas and the puck. Upon blowing the play dead, Habs fans at the Bell Centre littered the ice with rally towels and rained boos down on the call.

The Habs would be undeterred though as Mike Cammalleri would make it count at 10:07 of the first period on the power play to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead. The Habs would hold that lead until the second period when at 48 seconds in, Dennis Seidenberg would even things up slipping one past Carey Price (31 saves) to tie it up.

That lead would be short lived as Milan Lucic would provide more of the night’s controversy after boarding Jaroslav Spacek at 4:37 of the second. Lucic would receive a five minute major and a game misconduct. Patrice Bergeron would make the situation worse after getting a delay of game penalty for putting the the Habs on a 5-on-3 power play. There, Brian Gionta would score to put the Habs up for good 2-1.

The third period would roll along in classic Habs style with the Canadiens frustrating the Bruins and the Bruins unable to fight through and get the equalizer. Montreal’s win now forces a winner-take-all Game 7 tomorrow night in Boston to see who moves on to the second round.

For Montreal it was a classic game for them. They scored first (twice even!) and put the pressure on the Bruins to fight back all night long. When the Bruins evened it up, they were able to put them back in a hole right afterwards with a little help from Lucic. The Canadiens will want to do more of that in Game 7 to make the Bruins sweat it out.

For Boston, they have to do something with their power play. It’s a dire situation for them on the man advantage as they’ve still not scored on the power play in the playoffs. If the Bruins want to get out of this series, nevermind winning the Cup, they have to figure out what’s wrong there and get Tomas Kaberle going.