Murray Lifts Bruins, 4-3

Glen Murray took advantage of his good fortune and made a goat out of Montreal’s Alex Kovalev.

Murray pounced on Kovalev’s mistake to score on a breakaway 9:27 into the second overtime Tuesday night, giving the Boston Bruins a 4-3 win over the Canadiens at Montreal.

Boston, which took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series, tied the score when Mike Knuble scored with 30 seconds left in regulation.

Murray beat goalie Jose Theodore with a wrist shot after Montreal’s Kovalev -- who scored his third goal in two games in regulation -- collided with teammate Sheldon Souray in the neutral zone.

“The puck was just lying there for me,” Murray said.

Kovalev was shaking his hand after appearing to be slashed on the glove by Travis Green and lost sight of the puck -- and Souray and Murray.

“There’s nothing you can say about that,” said Kovalev, whose right hand was wrapped in a bag of ice. “We ended up in the middle of the ice, and Sheldon ended up losing the puck.”

Canadien Coach Claude Julien said he thought Kovalev made a bad decision.

“I think that when the referees don’t call a penalty on a play, you can’t stop playing,” Julien said. “They decided not to call it, and then they collided. Murray got the breakaway, and he doesn’t miss many of those.”

Bruin goalie Andrew Raycroft made 42 saves. Theodore stopped 40 shots.

Michael Nylander and Jiri Slegr also scored for Boston, which won its second overtime game of the series. Bruin rookie Patrice Bergeron scored 1:26 into overtime Friday to give Boston a 2-1 home win, its second in a row to open the first-round series.

“Whoever comes out of this game with a win has a lot of momentum going with them,” Raycroft said. “To close out and get a split here in Montreal was huge for us.”

The Bruins can end the series with a win in Game 5 Thursday in Boston.

Nashville 3, Detroit 0 -- Tomas Vokoun continued his suffocating play, stopping 41 shots at Nashville as the Predators evened their first-round Western Conference series at 2-2.

Steve Sullivan, Vladimir Orszagh and Greg Johnson each scored, and Dan Hamhuis had two assists. The 6-year-old franchise ensured a return visit to Music City for Game 6 on Saturday against the 10-time Stanley Cup winners. Game 5 will be in Detroit on Thursday night.

Vokoun stopped 41 shots in a 3-1 victory Sunday. Vokoun was better Tuesday night in his 13th career shutout and first in the playoffs -- even with the Red Wings outshooting Nashville, 41-20.

San Jose 4, St. Louis 3 -- Scott Thornton and Alexander Korolyuk each scored his first two goals of the playoffs to lead the Sharks at St. Louis.

San Jose, the second-seeded team in the Western Conference, has a 3-1 series lead and can close it out in Game 5 Thursday night at home.

Mike Danton, Pavol Demitra and Doug Weight scored for the Blues, who have rallied from a 3-1 series deficit only twice in 12 tries in franchise history -- the last time in 1999.

Calgary 4, Vancouver 0 -- Miikka Kiprusoff made 20 saves, and the Flames used a scoring burst in the second period to defeat the Canucks at Calgary, Canada, and even their Western Conference series at 2-2.

The Flames, winning a home playoff game for the first time since 1995, scored two goals only 27 seconds apart in the second period. Their special teams, silenced for the first 22 power plays of the series, came alive with one short-handed goal and one with the man advantage.