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GAME 1:
It seems that hockey players play even better when they are injured. Donald Audette and Saku Koivu, having just come off of injuries and cancer treatments, respectively, are making up for missed games by squeezing all of their performances into the playoffs. Audette began the postseason with a hat-trick, and Koivu had 2 assists, while star rookie goaltender José Théodore made 30 stops to win the game.
Boston's Joe Thornton started off the scoring at 10:55 of the first period, beating José Théodore. But Audette quickly responded, and two minutes later he tied the gameat 1-1. During the second period, Montréal took the lead with a goal by Gino Odjick, but Boston tied it up again before the end of the period.
Starting off the third period tied at 2-2, Donald Audette decided to take the lead for his team. Just 2:18 into the period, he scored another goal, and then less than 8 minutes later he beat Byron Dafoe to put in his third goal of the game. With only ten minutes remaining, Boston was down 4-2 and would stay that way until Canadien Doug Gilmour's empty-net goal at the end of the game, for a final tally of 5-2 for Montréal.
GAME 2:
Boston would get their revenge, but just barely. Brian Rolston opened up the scoring for Boston early in the first period, letting loose all of the stops. At 9:34, Nick Boynton made it 2-0 for Boston, and within 2 minutes and 15 seconds, Boston followed up with 2 more goals, one from Bill Guerin and another from Rolston. By the end of the first, Montréal was facing a 4-0 deficit with little hope of taking the game.
Coming into the seond period down by 4 goals, Montréal knew that something had to be done. It was star player Richard Zednik who would step up to the challenge, scoring a pair of goals just 3:17 apart. Then Patrice Brisebois' goal 14:01 through the period pulled Montréal within a single goal of Boston, making the score 4-3. P.J. Axelsson soon gave the Bruins their safety cushion back, and the period ended with 5-3 on the board.
With renewed hope after pulling up so close to Boston, Montréal entered the third period firing on all cylinders. It took just over 15 minutes, but Doug Gilmour managed to once again narrow the scoring gap to one goal, putting Boston on the defensive for the last five minutes of the game. After stopping 38 shots, José Théodore was pulled from his net, and Montréal went at Boston with the extra man. Their efforts would not be rewarded though, as Joe Thornton put away an empty-netter with just 34 seconds to go, bringing the final score to 6-4.
GAME 3:
Coming back to Montréal with the series tied, the Canadiens were determined to once again take the lead. They appeared to have a good start with Yanic Perreault's goal five minutes into the game, but Boston quickly tied the game when P.J. Axelsson scored just three and a half minutes later. The scoring would remain quiet until 7:54 into the second period, when Boston took the lead on Bill Guerin's goal. Their lead was be lengthened even more when Nick Boynton got one past Théodore just 1:10 later.
Montréal was once again trailing by two goals at the start of the third period. But just over 7 minutes in, Donald Audette scored his fourth goal of the playoffs, to be quickly followed by Doug Gilmour 53 seconds later. With the game tied after Boston had once again given up their comfortable lead, crowd favourite Saku Koivu brought the Canadiens ahead to 4-3 with a goal 11:59 in the third. Facing defeat, Boston played the extra attacker at the end of the game to try and force overtime, but Montréal's Joé Juneau put the game away with a snappy empty net goal.
GAME 4:
Down 2-1 in the series, Boston needed to do something to even it up again, so they turned up the intensity. With P.J. Stock's early goal in the game, Boston continued on their quest by adding two more points before the period was over. Bill Guerin knocked one in at 15:49, followed by a goal from Martin Lapointe less than two minutes later.
Montréal, hoping to once again rebound from an early deficit, got on the board with a goal by Richard Zednik at 5:44 in the second period. 1-1/2 minutes later, with Montréal on the power play, a short-handed goal by Brian Rolston would again put Boston up by three, making the score 4-1. All was quiet on the scoring front until 20 minutes later. With Montréal again on the power play, Zednik scored his second of the game and fourth of the playoffs, bringing the Canadiens within two goals.
But Boston's Sergei Samsonov put the game away with a goal late in the third, for a score of 5-2 that would stand until the end of the game. Then, with the game already won, Boston's physical pressure turned ugly when Kyle McLaren clotheslined Canadiens star Zednik with only 1:17 left to go. Zednik was speeding in towards the Boston net when McLaren's elbow met up with his face, knocking him back flat on the ice. Zednik was sent to hospital with a number of playoff ending injuries, including a broken nose, concussion, dislocated kneecap, and a laceration under his right eye. McLaren was suspended for the remainder of the series, and the two were headed back to Boston at two games a piece.
GAME 5:
Determined to exact revenge on Boston for their hit on star Richard Zednik late in the fourth game, Montréal shot ahead in the first period with a pair of goals by Bill Lindsay and Oleg Petrov. Up two goals to none, the Canadiens went on the the defensive, stopping Boston's feverish onslaught of shots. Théodore allowed only one goal at 10:28 of the second to Sergei Samsonov, and blocked each of the other 43 that Boston threw at him. He also had help from his goalpost, as four shots in the third period bounced off and out. Montréal's measly 13 shots proved to be enough, as they took the lead in the series with a 2-1 win.
GAME 6:
Facing elimination, Brian Rolston's fourth goal of the playoffs got Boston the first of the game at 7:57 in the first period. But that was as far as the Bruins would get as Montréal put on a repeat performance of game five. Donald Audette, with his fifth of the series, tied the game six minutes later, and then the two teams would hold each other off until the third period. With a power play carrying over from the last seconds of the second period, Yanic Perreault scored the last goal of the series just 39 seconds into the final period. The score would sit at 2-1 for Montréal for the remainder of the game as José Théodore made another stellar performance, staving off Boston's desperate attacks to make a total of 35 saves and win the series for the Canadiens.
And so the eighth-seeded Canadiens add to the unexpected upsets of the Eastern Conference, knocking off top-seeded Boston in their 4-2 first round win. They move on to meet the next challenger in the second round series of Carolina vs. Montréal.
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