MONTREAL (AP) Golfer Jack Nicklaus stopped by the Canadiens dressing room Tuesday night and delivered a pregame pep talk about being prepared and not trying to do too much.
Carey Price responded with more of his usual excellence, and Montreal did just enough to beat the rival Boston Bruins.
Price stopped 41 shots, Paul Byron scored with 1:02 left and Montreal beat Boston 3-2.
Byron poked in a loose puck after Alexander Radulov passed it into the crease. The goal stood after a video review.
Coach Michel Therrien said he got a call before the game from a friend who said Nicklaus was in town and wanted to visit the Bell Centre.
”He asked if (Nicklaus) could visit the dressing room,” Therrien said. ”I thought about it and we came up with the idea of having Jack talk to the players and give them the starting lineup.
”He was amazing. It took the players a few seconds to realize who he was. It was a nice moment.”
Shea Weber and Alex Galchenyuk also scored for Montreal, which got a second straight win since a 10-0 defeat in Columbus on Friday night.
Colin Miller and David Pastrnak scored for the Bruins, who still had legs in the third period despite playing a back-to-back after a 4-0 victory Monday night over Buffalo.
Rookie Zane McIntyre had 20 saves for Boston.
”There are always highs and lows to a game, so it’s about managing the momentum shifts,” he said. ”I think this building does a good job of magnifying that, too.”
The Canadiens were outshot for a fifth straight game, allowing 40 or more in three of them.
”We’re getting into trouble lately with the quality of our play with the puck,” Therrien said. ”It’s a counter-attacking game and teams try to force the other side into mistakes.
”We need to win battles for the puck and protect the puck and that’s what we’re having trouble with right now.”
Boston had a 14-5 shots edge in the first period and kept up the pressure in the second, but Weber got the first goal on a power play 3:58 into the period. That started a run of three goals in a span of 70 seconds.
Andrei Markov slipped the puck to Weber on the left point for a blast inside the post for his fifth goal of the season and fourth with the man advantage.
Miller got his first of the season at 4:48 when his shot went off the end boards, off Price’s stick and in the net.
Twenty seconds later, Byron launched a counterattack and Radulov flipped a pass that Galchenyuk controlled for a backhanded goal, his fifth of the season.
Boston tied it 2-2 with 1 second left on a power play at 6:38 of the third when Pastrnak took a feed from John-Michael Liles and drilled a shot to the top corner from the left circle. It was the seventh power-play goal allowed by Montreal in its last three games.
NOTES: David Backes and Torey Krug led Boston with six shots on goal each, and Patrice Bergeron had five. Byron and Galchenyuk led Montreal with three each.
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