MONTREAL – Michael Ryder scored 1:59 into overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night, tying the first-round series 2-2.
Ryder, the former Canadiens winger who also scored in the second period, took Chris Kelly's pass from behind the net and shot past Carey Price to give Boston its second victory in a row at the Bell Centre after the Bruins dropped the first two games of the Eastern Conference series at home.
Kelly brought Boston even for the third time in the game, scoring with 6:18 left in the third period. He put away a loose puck at his feet in the goalmouth for his second of the series.
Patrice Bergeron and Andrew Ference added goals for the Bruins. Tim Thomas made 34 saves.
Michael Cammalleri had a goal and two assists for Montreal, and Brent Sopel, Andrei Kostitsyn and P.K. Subban also scored. The Canadiens blew leads of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3.
Game 5 is Saturday night in Boston.
Subban gave Montreal a 4-3 lead 1:39 into the third on the Canadiens' first power play after Bergeron was called for hooking at 37 seconds. The rookie defenseman's shot through traffic sailed past Thomas into the top of the net, touching off yet another thundering ovation on a night of swings in the highly charged atmosphere.
Price stopped 30 shots, including a sprawling desperation glove save on Johnny Boychuk moments after Subban's go-ahead goal.
Boston killed its second penalty late in the third when Dennis Seidenberg was called for interference with 2:19 left.
Bruins coach Claude Julien used his timeout 7:47 into the second after Kostitsyn put Montreal up 3-1.
Ference made an obscene gesture to the capacity crowd of 21,273 after he drove a slap shot past Price midway through the second to draw Boston to 3-2.
Bergeron, who assisted on Ference's goal, tied it at 3 with 2:56 left in the second.
Brad Marchand assisted on both goals.
Sopel scored on a slap shot from the right point 8:13 in as Montreal enjoyed a 15-8 advantage in shots in the first.
Ryder silenced the crowd when he tied it 2:13 into the second. Ryder took Tomas Kaberle's long lead pass at the blue line and got behind defenseman Jaroslav Spacek to beat Price with a shot into the top of the net.
The Canadiens regained the momentum and Cammalleri brought the cheers to a crescendo when he restored Montreal's one-goal lead 6:52 into the second.
Kostitsyn made it 3-1 55 seconds later. The Belorusian right wing drove the net to jam Tomas Plekanec's centering pass home past Thomas.
NOTES
Montreal has gone on to lose the series the previous two times it has opened 2-0 on the road. … Kelly played with a cage on his helmet. He sustained a facial injury when he was pushed into the Montreal goal by Scott Gomez on Monday night. … Henri Richard brought out the Canadiens' torch to begin the pregame presentation. Richard won a record 11 Stanley Cups with Montreal between 1956 and 1973. … Jeff Halpern made his Canadiens playoff debut after missing the last four games of the regular season and the first three of the series because of a lower-body injury. LW Benoit Pouliot was left out of the lineup.