Bruins, Montreal Skate To Tie

The Montreal Canadiens wouldn't let the Boston Bruins pile up the goals again.

One night after getting routed 9-2 in Montreal, the Canadiens held the Bruins to a 1-1 tie Thursday night in Boston's first home game in 17 days.

"We were fired up because they ran up the score on us last night," Montreal coach Alain Vigneault said. "They didn't need to have their best power-play unit on the ice at the end of the game."

Boston coach Pat Burns scoffed at those comments.

"They are stupid, ridiculous," he said. "But I understand why they were said. They took the pressure off their players and they focused on me."

If that was Vigneault's intent, it worked as the Canadiens played an excellent defensive game. They faced nine power plays for the second straight night, but gave up just one goal on them after allowing five Wednesday.

Steve Heinze scored his 100th career goal at 15:32 of the first period for Boston, and Brian Savage tied it with 41 seconds left in second with Montreal's only power-play goal in five opportunities.

"You blow a team out like that, they're going to come back at you, the hits after the whistle, the hands to the face," Heinze said. "We let them take the penalties. Unfortunately, we didn't capitalize on them."

On Wednesday, the Bruins broke a three-game losing streak and ended their road trip at 3-4 in a game that ended with bad feelings that spilled over into Thursday's game.

Boston's Steve Heinze had a run-in with Jocelyn Thibeault. (AP)

Much of that stemmed from Montreal defenseman Dave Manson's elbow that drove P.J. Axelsson's head into the boards. During Manson's five-minute penalty, the Bruins scored three goals to take a 6-0 lead.

Manson was suspended for three games starting Thursday and fined $1,000.

"We knew after last night we couldn't play that kind of hockey in a Montreal uniform," Savage said.

"They gave up nine goals in front of their home crowd and we expected a completely different game. They played very well defensively," Boston goalie Byron Dafoe said. "The first game at home after a long road trip is usually the toughest."

Boston outshot Montreal 3-1 in overtime, but neither team had a solid scoring chance. The Bruins nearly won late in the third period, but Jocelyn Thibault made a glove save of Grant Ledyard's shot from five feet with 6.5 seconds left.

"The puck was just sitting on top of the net. A Bruin player knocked it off," Thibault said. "It would have been heartbreaking to lose the game in the last six seconds."

Heinze's third goal of the season came from the left circle after he took a pass from Ted Donato, standing behind the goal line. Heinze, recovering from a finger injury, wasn't going to play until Axelsson complained of headaches during warmups.

Savage got his second goal of the season after Dafoe dropped his stick. Vincent Damphousse then passed the puck from the top of the right circle to Martin Rucinsky at the right corner of the goal. He passed across the slot to Savage, who scored as Dafoe tried to stop the puck with his glove.

"Whether I had my stick or not, I don't know if I would have stopped it," Dafoe said.

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