The Boston Bruins, tortured during the playoffs by the Montreal Canadiens for most of their existence, con Stanley
Cuptinued to exact some revenge.The Bruins became the first team in 40 years and only the second ever to sweep Montreal in a seven-game series by beating the Canadiens 2-0 on Saturday night to win the Adams Division finals.
Dave Poulin broke a scoreless tie with a power-play goal at 12:08 of the second period, knocking in Adam Oates' rebound, and Andy Moog made it stand up, stopping 26 shots for his third playoff shutout.
Peter Douris, whose overtime goal won Game 2 in Montreal, added an empty-net goal with 44.8 seconds remaining - triggering a deluge of brooms to salute the sweep.
It was the third straight year and fourth in the last five that the Bruins have eliminated the Canadiens, who have won 21 of the 27 postseason series between the two teams and captured 18 in a row from 1946-87.
The victory moves the Bruins - who finished nine points behind the Canadiens in the regular-season standings - into the Wales Conference final against the Patrick Division champion, either the New York Rangers or Pittsburgh.
The Bruins' only other playoff sweep of the Canadiens came in 1929, their first meeting, when Boston won all three games in a best-of-5 semifinal series and went on to win their first Stanley Cup.
The only previous sweep of the Canadiens in a best-of-7 series was in the 1952 finals, when Detroit won all four games and outscored Montreal 11-2. They had not been swept in any series since 1983, when Buffalo did it in a best-of-5 opening-round series.
Poulin's goal came during a four-minute power play after Montreal's Brian Skrudland was called for cross-checking and roughing. Patrick Roy stopped Oates' shot, but was helpless to control the rebound and Poulin scored his third goal of the playoffs.
The dropped the Canadiens to 0-10-1 on the road since a victory over the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum on March 3. Included in that winless streak were five playoff losses - three in Hartford and the two at Boston Garden.
The Bruins played for the second straight game without Ray Bourque, who suffered a broken middle finger of his right hand in the third period of Game 2. Boston won the series opener 6-4 and took Game 3 Thursday night 3-2.
Roy, who made 29 saves, left the ice in favor of an extra attacker with 90 seconds left. But seconds after Moog turned away a shot by Gilbert Dionne from about 35 feet, Poulin fought off two Canadiens along the left boards in his own zone and fed the puck ahead to Douris for the empty-netter.
Moog was only challenged a few times during the second period, including two shots by J.J. Daigneault from just inside the blue line at 16:36 and again at 18:35.
The game was scoreless after the first period, with Boston outshooting the Canadiens 12-9.
The Bruins' biggest scoring threat came at around the 11:00 mark when a shot by Douris, who had grabbed a rebound off the backboard, was stopped by Roy to the left of the goal. Roy also escaped when Bobby Carpenter's shot from the right circle bounced off the post.
With 25 seconds remaining on a Boston power play after Mathieu Schneider went off for tripping at 14:27, Moog stopped Brent Gilchrist's short-handed breakaway.
Penguins 5, Rangers 4
At Pittsburgh, Mario Lemieux's out. The Pittsburgh Penguins aren't.
Ron Francis scored three goals - including the game-winner at 2:47 of overtime - to rally the Penguins to a 5-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night and deadlock the Patrick Division finals at two wins apiece.
Francis, replacing the injured Lemieux on the Penguins' top line, scored three of their last four goals as Pittsburgh withstood Mark Messier's emotional return and two goals to even the series.
Game 5 will be Monday night in Madison Square Garden.