The Boston Bruins thumped the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 in Game Five of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series to stave off elimination and send the teams back to Massachusetts.

Trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven series going into the game, the Bruins kept pressing throughout the contest and claimed a deserved victory despite being out-shot 32-24.

"You gotta fight to the end," Bruins head coach Claude Julien said.

"We've just given ourselves another chance to come back in the series."

Meanwhile, Mike Knuble's second-overtime goal gave the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 home win over the Washington Capitals and a commanding 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference series.

In the West, the Dallas Stars pushed the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks to the brink of elimination with a 3-1 home victory for a 3-1 series advantage.

The Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 to take a 3-2 series lead and the San Jose Sharks edged the Calgary Flames 4-3 to go ahead 3-2.

In Montreal, Boston, after tying the score at 1-1 in the second period, took the lead three minutes into the third with a goal that proved Montreal's rookie goaltender Carey Price was vulnerable under pressure.

Price mishandled the puck while putting it back into play, placing it down near the corner of his goal crease and allowing Boston's Glen Metropolit to jump in and bang it home.

That "little gift" proved to be the turning point in the game, Habs head coach Guy Carbonneau said, as the Bruins added three more unanswered goals.

The final strike, Vladimir Sobotka's floating wrist shot from an acute angle at 17:48, should also have been saved by Price and Carbonneau acknowledged that his young goaltender had a poor game.

"You don't wish for it but you know it's going to come at one point," he said.

However, Carbonneau refused to lay all the blame on Price, who had shut out the Bruins in Boston 1-0 just two days earlier.

The Habs "stopped skating" in the second period, lacking commitment as they were found guilty of believing a spot in the next round of the playoffs was theirs, Carbonneau said.

"We came back to town, the town was on fire. We were told we were good," he said.

Early in the game, Montreal fans harboured thoughts of a series victory when Alex Kovalev, wearing the team captain's letter in place of the injured Saku Koivu, opened the scoring with an opportunist strike midway through the first period.

Phil Kessel tied the match with a powerplay marker at 7:45 in the second period when he deceived Price with a shot though his pads.

After Metropolit's go-ahead goal, Zdeno Chara scored on a shot from the point during another powerplay.

Boston put the game out of reach with less than five minutes to play in the third on a short-handed goal by left-winger Marco Sturm that put the Bruins 4-1 ahead.

Then came Sobotka's goal and the home fans began to head for the exits.

Game Six is at the TD Banknorth Garden on Saturday.

Reuters