"There was a loose puck for sure," said Krejci. "I should have scored."
Krejci's miss was as close as the Bruins would get.
The Canadiens scored the next two goals in the third period, enough cushion to withstand a late strike by Dennis Wideman, to claim a 4-2 victory before 17,565 at TD Banknorth Garden. It was the seventh win in seven tries for the Canadiens over the Bruins this season.
"We never gave up," said Marc Savard. "We know we have a big game again [tomorrow]. We want to keep trying to work our way through it. We had pressure chances all night. But same old song and dance. We've got to get some goals."
The Bruins put 36 pucks on Price. But the rookie netminder, awarded the No. 1 job when general manager Bob Gainey traded Cristobal Huet at the deadline, looked like the next coming of Ken Dryden, calmly kicking out 34 shots without a hint of panic to his quiet-as-the-library game. The Bruins had their best pressure in the first period, putting 15 shots on goal, but Price stopped every one.
"I can't put the puck in the net for the players," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "I think we've shown in the past that we're capable of scoring. Somewhere in that dressing room, someone's got some goals in them. It's time that we stepped out and started scoring goals if we want to win hockey games. That's all I can say."
Over their last 10 games (2-5-3), the Bruins have scored only 14 goals. The remedy, one Julien has preached all season, would be for the Bruins to crash the net, create traffic, and score some ugly goals.
But the majority of their 36 shots came when Price had clear looks, making the rookie's job that much easier. The Bruins had five power plays, but even with the return of Zdeno Chara (team-leading nine man-advantage goals this season), Boston put only five shots on goal with an extra skater.
"We seem to outshoot every team in the last 15 games," said Savard, whose team held a 36-30 shot advantage over Montreal. "We're outshooting everybody but still coming out on the short end a lot of nights. We think we're at the net, but maybe we're not."
