BOSTON (AP) — David Krejci scored off his skate to break a second-period tie, and Tim Thomas stopped 33 shots on Monday night to lead the Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens and give Boston its fifth consecutive win.

Benoit Pouliot and Brad Marchand also scored for the Bruins, who have won 19 of 22 since losing back-to-back games to Montreal at the end of October.

Carey Price made 28 saves and Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal, which lost its third straight game — its second in a row since coach Jacques Martin was fired and replaced by Randy Cunneyworth.

The Canadiens have lost nine of their last 12, a streak that cost one of the NHL’s winningest coaches his job and left them in last place in the Northeast Division.

Boston led 3-1 when Montreal pulled Price and cut the deficit to one.

After a turnover in the Boston zone, David Desharnais shot from the right circle and Erik Cole tipped it past Thomas. The Canadiens, again with a 6-on-5, put pressure on for the final minute but Chris Campoli’s shot on an outnumbered Thomas hit a Montreal player in front.

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Dennis Seidenberg hit the post of the empty net with less than a second to play.

The Bruins took the lead with 7:47 left in the first period when Rich Peverley won a faceoff and moved in on Price. He slid it across the slot to Pouliot, who also broke for the net off the faceoff and redirected it into the net.

But Montreal scored just 73 seconds later when Michael Cammalleri backhanded a pass through two Bruins in front of the net and found Plekanec for the goal.

It stayed that way until early in the second Andrew Ference centered it and Krejci, sliding toward the crease, gave the puck a nudge into the net. The play was reviewed, but the goal stood.

The Bruins made it 3-1 with just under six minutes left when Patrice Bergeron forced a turnover at the Canadiens’ blue line and Tyler Seguin picked up the puck in the zone. He found Marchand all alone in front of the net for a backhanded, falling-down wrist shot for his 12th goal of the season.


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