Canadiens oust the Bruins

Carey Price put a couple of tough losses behind him to save the Montreal Canadiens’ playoff run and dash the Boston Bruins’ hopes of an improbable comeback.

Price got his second shutout and Andrei Kostitsyn scored twice to lead the Canadiens to a 5-0 win over Boston on Monday night at Montreal in the deciding game of their first-round playoff series.

The 20-year-old rookie stopped 25 shots overall, including 11 shots in the opening period. Price had given up 10 goals overall in a pair of Canadiens losses after he got his first playoff shutout in a 1-0 win in Game 4.

“It was a rough couple of games and we knew it just wasn’t going our way,” Price said. “I knew it was going to turn around eventually, and tonight it did.”

The Canadiens took control of the game in the second period, outshooting the Bruins 17-6 while building a three-goal lead.

Washington 4, at Philadelphia 2 -- Held without a goal for four consecutive games, Alex Ovechkin scored twice in the third period to lift the Capitals and send the series back to Washington for Game 7 today.

The Flyers had stymied and frustrated the NHL’s leading scorer so much that he wasn’t much of a factor the last four games.

After the Capitals erased a 2-0 deficit late in the second period, Ovechkin made the Flyers pay early in the third.

Viktor Kozlov picked off a pass deep in the Washington zone and fed Ovechkin at center ice.

He took the pass and skated untouched before he beat Martin Biron for the breakaway goal and a 3-2 lead 2:46 into the third period.

Ovechkin was just heating up. He ripped a one-timer on a cross-ice pass from Brooks Laich eight minutes later to give Washington a two-goal lead.

“We just got away from our game,” said Flyers center Mike Richards. “Now, tomorrow night’s desperation time.”