Canadiens, 3-2 (OT)

Alex Kovalev scored the game-winner at 2:30 of overtime. Kovalev's shot ticked off the stick of Zdeno Chara and hopped over the left shoulder of Tim Thomas (31 saves).

The Canadiens now have a 2-0 lead in the series, which resumes tomorrow night (Sunday) at TD Banknorth Garden.

"I think we gave a great effort tonight," said Shawn Thornton. "Guys came out with a lot of composure and a lot of passion. I thought we deserved a little better tonight."

* There were some raised eyebrows about referee Mike Leggo's overtime tripping call on Jeremy Reich. The fourth-line winger extended his stick and tripped up Andrei Markov in the Boston zone. "The ref's got a job to do," said Thornton. "If it's a trip, it's a trip. Whatever. I'm not going to bad-mouth the ref, obviously." The Bruins had killed off 59 seconds of Reich's penalty when Kovalev scored the winner.

* Claude Julien, explaining his decision to replace Phil Kessel with Vladimir Sobotka, said he wanted more grit in the lineup. "I think if you look back at the first game, they just totally dominated us as far as grit was concerned," Julien said. "Along the boards and in all those areas that are crucial. So we just decided to add some grit in our lineup. Obviously, I think we responded well that way."

* Dennis Wideman (lower-torso injury) is day-to-day.

* Guy Carbonneau wanted Kovalev off the ice just before he scored the game-winner because he thought the winger had been on for too long. Kovalev had an up-and-down night, starting with a highlight-reel setup of Sergei Kostitsyn in the second period. In the third period, with the score 2-1, Kovalev could have given his team a two-goal lead when he had a shorthanded breakaway on Thomas, but his shot went wide. On the same sequence, Kovalev slashed Aaron Ward, leading to David Krejci's five-on-three goal. Carbonneau said it was a selfish penalty for Kovalev to take.