Canadiens push Bruins to brink; key win for Ducks

Patrice Brisebois snapped a scoreless tie late in the second period, rookie Carey Price posted his first playoff shutout, and the Montreal Canadiens moved within one game of advancing in the postseason with a 1-0 win over the host Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

The Canadiens, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, lead the best-of-seven, first-round series 3-1.

The teams played evenly for much of the hard-hitting, fast-paced game until Brisebois scored on a power play with 42 seconds left in the second period.

Then Carey continued doing what he had done throughout the series: shut down Boston's mediocre offense.

Carey, the fifth overall pick in the 2005 draft, stopped 27 shots.

Ducks 4, Stars 2: Chris Pronger scored 2 power-play goals after assisting on Anaheim's first goal, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks cut their series deficit to 2-1 with a victory at Dallas.

The Stars lost for the seventh time in their last eight home playoff games and missed a chance to take a commanding 3-0 series lead in the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Todd Marchant, Ryan Getzlaf and Pronger scored 3 goals on 4 shots in the first 14½ minutes. Pronger scored again about 5½ minutes into the second period. Stars captain Brendan Morrow scored two power-play goals 1:39 apart in the third period, but Jean-Sebastien Giguere held firm the rest of the way, finishing with 31 saves.

Flyers 6, Capitals 3: Danny Briere has played more like the top player in the league than likely MVP Alex Ovechkin, scoring 2 more goals with an assist, helping Philadelphia take a 2-1 series lead over visiting Washington.

The Flyers scored 3 goals in a 2:33 span in the first period. Briere scored first, and after Eric Fehr quickly tied the game with his first playoff goal, Scottie Hartnell and Sami Kapanen scored 17 seconds apart to give Philadelphia a 3-1 lead.

Mike Green's power-play goal pulled the Capitals to 3-2 at 7:28 of the second, and Briere restored the 2-goal lead with 9.8 seconds left in the period.