Bruins vs Canadiens

BOSTON -- Boston Bruins forward Reilly Smith scored two goals in his last 30 games of the regular season.

Bruins coach Claude Julien kept trust in the 23-year-old, and that faith has been rewarded in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Smith scored the game-winning goal Saturday, when the Bruins evened their best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Montreal Canadiens with a 5-3 win at TD Garden.

Game 3 is at Bell Centre at Montreal on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS), and Smith will start it with three playoff goals.

For additional insight into the Stanley Cup Playoff series between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, NHL.com enlisted the help of longtime NHL assistant/associate coach Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy played in more than 500 NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins, then spent a decade as an assistant and associate coach with the Carolina Hurricanes, where he was a member of the staff that led them to a Stanley Cup championship in 2006. He joined the Flyers as an assistant during the 2009-10 season and stayed in Philadelphia until October 2013.

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins showed everything that makes them the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Montreal Canadiens.

BOSTON -- The Montreal Canadiens on Friday sounded like a team reeling from a loss, not like one that pulled off a double-overtime Game 1 win in the Eastern Conference Second Round series against the Boston Bruins.

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien and four of his players met with the media at their Boston hotel to discuss what happened in Game 1 on Thursday and what needs to change going into Game 2. From their answers, it seemed clear the Canadiens knew they were fortunate to open this best-of-7 with a win.

"I think we got away with one [Thursday]," forward Thomas Vanek said. "We all know that. We're happy that we won Game 1. I don't think any of us are happy with how we won.

WILMINGTON, Mass. -- The Boston Bruins are hoping some of the goals they left on the ice in Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens will be there in Game 2.

The Bruins remained positive Friday, the day after they outshot the Montreal Canadiens 51-33 but lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round, 4-3 in double overtime. Game 2 is at TD Garden on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS).

"I thought we had so many chances we could've scored 10 goals [Thursday]," Bruins center David Krejci said about his line after meetings and off-ice workouts at Ristuccia Arena. "But we didn't. So hopefully we are saving them for next game."

BOSTON -- The Montreal Canadiens left TD Garden on Thursday after their fifth win in five games played in these Stanley Cup Playoffs knowing they stole one.

They also know it doesn't matter. A victory does not require style points to count.

The Canadiens did not deserve to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in double overtime, not after being outshot 51-33 and spending massive stretches of the game hemmed in their zone.

After 10 days of waiting and practicing since their first-round sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Canadiens were under siege for much of the night but came out victorious in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round Series, stealing the home-ice advantage and perhaps demoralizing the Bruins in one fell swoop.

BOSTON -- Everyone thinks the relationship between Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic and the Montreal Canadiens is adversarial.

Some might be disappointed that Lucic actually has a friend who wears a Canadiens sweater and will be battling him for every inch of ice in the upcoming Eastern Conference Second Round series, which gets underway with Game 1 at TD Garden on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

Lucic and Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher are alums of the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League. They work out together in the offseason. But the upcoming best-of-7 series won't be a time to reminisce about Vancouver or summer fun time.

Goaltending plays an integral part in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With the competition intense and so even, the men protecting each goal often are the difference in a series. NHL.com decided to break down perhaps the most interesting goaltending matchup in the Eastern Conference Second Round: Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens vs. Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins.

Much like many goaltending coaches will do before a playoff series, NHL.com correspondent Kevin Woodley, the managing editor of InGoal Magazine, charted every goal scored against each goalie in this matchup this season and came to some interesting conclusions about their strengths and weaknesses.

BOSTON -- The hockey world was allowed to witness a goaltending clash between Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins and Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens once this season.

Rask faced the Canadiens four times. Price faced the Bruins once, as the schedule and Montreal coach Michel Therrien's desire to play backup Peter Budaj in an environment he's comfortable in at TD Garden conspired to keep the Canadiens' No. 1 on the bench for three other Boston-Montreal games.

While Price was leading Canada to the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Rask was carrying Finland to a bronze, their paths didn't cross on the ice (although Price said they had some chats in the mess hall).

Finally, the Stanley Cup Playoffs have given many fans what they've been waiting for: Rask vs. Price in a best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round series, which starts Thursday at TD Garden (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

BROSSARD, Quebec -- The rivalry between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens appears to be rather one-sided.

Not necessarily in terms of wins and losses, even though the Canadiens have won six of their past seven games against the Bruins, but more in the sense of how emotional the rivalry is in each camp.

The Bruins are not shy to say they hate the Canadiens, with coach Claude Julien openly saying so Tuesday and forward Milan Lucic admitting as much Wednesday as the teams prepared for the start of their Eastern Conference Second Round series Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

“Yeah, I mean I do,” Lucic said Wednesday in Boston. “If you ask them the same question, I’m sure they’d give you the same answer about if they hate us. You know it’s just natural for me being here for seven years now, and just being a part of this organization."

For additional insight into the Stanley Cup Playoff series between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, NHL.com enlisted the help of longtime NHL assistant/associate coach Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy played in more than 500 NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins, then spent a decade as an assistant and associate coach with the Carolina Hurricanes, where he was a member of the staff that led them to a Stanley Cup championship in 2006. He joined the Flyers as an assistant during the 2009-10 season and stayed in Philadelphia until October 2013.

Teams play the regular season in order to not only earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but also to have home-ice advantage.

Except in the case of the Eastern Conference Second Round series between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens, Kevin McCarthy thinks home ice might in fact be a disadvantage for the Bruins, at least to start the series.