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MONTREAL -- P. William Moore Jersey .K. Subban has picked the right time of the year to go on an offensive tear. The 2013 Norris Trophy winner had his third straight two-point game with a goal and an assist as the Montreal Canadiens held off the Boston Bruins for a 4-2 victory on Tuesday night to take the lead in their NHL Eastern Conference playoff series. Montreal leads the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game 4 slated for Thursday night at the Bell Centre. "Were playing well as a team," said Subban, who has 11 points in seven post-season games. "Im just the beneficiary of the guys playing well around me, supporting me. "It starts in goal. Well, it actually starts with our coaching staff and making sure everybody is feeling confident. Were doing it together. It starts with Pricey. From our defence to our forwards. Were sticking together. When we had adversity, were sticking together doing the right things. "Its fun to play on teams where you know guys are going to support you." Lars Eller and fourth-line digger Dale Weise also had a goal and an assist each and Tomas Plekanec scored Montreals other goal. Patrice Bergeron and Andrej Meszaros scored for the Bruins. Subban became the third Canadiens defencemen to have three consecutive games of more than one point in the playoffs, after Larry Robinson in 1978 and 1987 and J.C. Tremblay in 1971. Robinsons 1978 streak stretched to five games. While Montreal has the lead in the series and has wrestled home-ice advantage from the Bruins, the series between the long-time rivals is hardly over. Boston outshot Montreal 28-26, had the Canadiens hemmed in their end for long stretches, and looked nothing like a team that is overmatched and demoralized. But unlike the first two games, they were unable to erase a two-goal Montreal lead as their frantic third-period comeback fell short and Eller ended it with an empty-net goal with three seconds left on the clock. "I dont think we played badly, we just made stupid mistakes that ended up costing us the game," said Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. "We have to get rid of those, and keep playing like were playing. "Youre three goals behind and its tough. You battle back, but times running out. We have to try to get that lead and play with the lead." For the third straight game in the series, the Canadiens held a 3-1 lead in the third period but, this time they didnt let it slip away. In Game 2 on Saturday in Boston, the Bruins scored four goals in the final 10 minutes for a 5-3 comeback win. This time, they got one back, but it wasnt enough. Rask was pulled with 2:20 left to play. Only four seconds later, Meszaros beat Price with a high shot through traffic off a feed from Milan Lucic. Eller said the Canadiens may finally be getting a hang of retaining the lead. "We learned a little bit from the last game and we didnt panic," said the Danish centre, who has eight points in seven post-season games after a disappointing regular season. "You know they are going to come hard when youre down by two. They gave it all theyve got and we were prepared for it and held strong." "We werent as good as them in the first period and that cost us," countered Bruins forward Jarome Iginla. "After that, we were playing catch-up. "We found a way to get ourselves back in it, but the first period was the biggest difference in the game. We werent as sharp as them early." Canadian anthem singer Ginette Reno had the 21,273 at the Bell Centre at maximum loudness to start the game, but after an early flurry, the Bruins took control of the puck through the first 10 minutes of play. Then Michael Bournival made a gritty play to get the puck around the boards to Subban, who left it for Thomas Vanek for a diagonal pass that gave Plekanec a shot into an open side for his third of the playoffs at 10:57. Subban was sent off for roughing after a high hit on Reilly Smith that also took out Vanek, sending the Austrian to the clinic with an apparent right leg problem. He returned for the second period. "I spoke to him after and he said "Im fine, dont worry about it," said Subban. "I was pretty happy to see him back there skating. Obviously I dont want to hurt my own teammates with a body check, but sometimes that happens." As Subbans penalty ended, Rask neglected to alert his teammates by banging his stick on the ice. That left the defenceman open to collect Ellers pass, go in on a breakaway, put a deke on Rask and score on a low forehand shot at 14:44. Mike Weaver blocked a shot that went to Daniel Briere, who sent Weise in on a breakaway with a pass up the middle. The fourth-line winger beat Rask between the pads for a three-goal lead at 13:52 of the second. But Bergeron won a face-off from Plekanec in the Montreal zone and reached across himself to deflect Torey Krugs point shot past Price with 2:12 left in the middle period. That put the Bruins in comeback mode. But despite pushing hard, they managed only seven third-period shots. "We were very solid playing with the lead," said Montreal coach Michel Therrien, who caused a surprise by tweaking his lines, moving Vanek to the second unit with Plekanec and putting Brendan Gallagher on the top line. "We wanted energy on each line," he said. "Gallagher brings energy to any line he plays on. And Vanek made a heck of a play on the first goal, so I was pleased with the players." Notes: As expected, the Canadiens put Douglas Murray in the lineup for the first time in the post-season in place of Francis Bouillon. Travis Moen went in for Brandon Prust. Ryan White, George Parros and Jarred Tinordi were scratched. . . Gallagher celebrated his 22nd birthday. . . The Bruins made no changes, with Matt Barkowski, Justin Florek and Corey Potter sitting out. Paul Worrilow Jersey . A few changes have been made this year, as RDS will no longer be producing it. Instead, the Canadiens have hired their own team of creative masterminds to produce the reality series. Devin Hester Jersey .Y. -- The New York Knicks hope to have Amare Stoudemire back before the end of the season after a second doctor said he wont need surgery on the bulging disk in his back. GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Talib Zanna had 19 points and a career-high 21 rebounds to help Pittsburgh beat No. 15 North Carolina 80-75 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals Friday. James Robinson also scored a career-best 19 points for the fifth-seeded Panthers (25-8), who used a dominating start to build a huge lead before having to hold off a late rally by the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (23-9). Pittsburgh led by 20 points with 7:22 left before UNCs frantic comeback behind Marcus Paige, who scored 20 of his 27 points after halftime before fouling out with 25.4 seconds left. UNC got it to 78-75 on Nate Britts jumper with 11.4 seconds left but couldnt complete the comeback. James Robinson knocked down two free throws to make it a two-possession game again right after Britts score, then Lamar Patterson rebounded a hurried 3-pointer by James Michael McAdoo with 4.3 seconds left to essentially seal it. Now, after a dominating performance in Thursdays second round and a bumbling-but-successful finish Friday, the Panthers will face sixth-ranked and top-seeded Virginia in Saturdays semifinals. Zanna, a 6-foot-9 fifth-year senior, came within two rebounds of tying the single-game tournament rebounding record that had stood since 1959. He fouled out with 1:03 left. Zanna had 10 offensive rebounds -- one shy of UNCs team total -- and helped Pitt control the boards while taking a 21-6 edge in second-chance points against a team that was third in the league in rebounnding margin for the regular season. Desmond Trufant Jersey. With all those point-blank extra looks off offensive rebounds, Pitt shot 52 per cent for the game. North Carolina spent all day trying to recover from a terrible start. It missed 16 of 19 shots and fell behind 25-8, though its late comeback at least gave them some hope of sticking around Greensboro a little longer. North Carolina shot 42 per cent, though much of that production came after Pitt had built a 61-41 lead on Josh Newkirks three-point play midway through the second half. The Panthers have won five of six to pull out of a three-game losing streak that started to threaten their NCAA tournament chances, with this ranking as probably their best of the year. Now the Tar Heels are suddenly struggling. The Tar Heels started 0-3 in the ACC and stood at 1-4 before running off 12 straight wins, including a home win against Pittsburgh, to earn a top-four seed and double-round bye that came with it. But UNC didnt play well in the final two games of the streak and lost at Duke to close the regular season last weekend, sending them into Greensboro coming off their first loss since Jan. 20. The rebounding trouble was particularly alarming for UNC considering it managed just 20 rebounds in last weekends loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium. During one demoralizing second-half stretch, Zanna tipped in offensive rebounds on consecutive possessions and had 17 rebounds to UNCs 16 with nearly 14 minutes still left. Wholesale Jerseys ' ' ' |
