Price solid in goal as Habs beat Bruins

Carey Price returned as Montreal's starting playoff goalie with his third postseason shutout, Brian Gionta scored twice as the visiting Canadiens opened the series with a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins night.

Price started just one of the Canadiens 19 playoff games last year when they were seeded eight but reached the Eastern Conference finals where they lost to the Philadelphia Flyers. Jaroslav Halak started the others but was traded to the St. Louis Blues in June.

This season, Price started 70 games and Thursday he turned aside 31 shots.

Gionta scored at 2:45 of the first period on a pass from Scott Gomez from the left boards. Gionta and Matthew Darche both got behind the Bruins defense with Darche directly in front of goalie Tim Thomas and Gionta on the right side of the crease. Darche let the puck go by and Gionta put it in between Thomas' left side and the post.

Gomez also assisted on Gionta's other goal at 16:42 of the third period.

The game was played cleanly without any fights between the teams that had several physical confrontations during the regular season.

In Boston's 8-6 win at home on Feb. 9 there were 45 penalties for 182 minutes. On March 8 in Montreal, the Canadiens won 4-1, a victory overshadowed by Zdeno Chara's hard hit that drove Max Pacioretty into a stanchion between the team's benches.

Pacioretty suffered a severe concussion and a cracked vertebra. Chara was penalized but not suspended by the NHL and Montreal police announced an investigation.

Price's outstanding performance was a major change from his last two games in Boston in which he allowed 13 goals. He let in all of Boston's goals in the 8-6 loss on Feb. 9 and five in a 7-0 loss on March 24.

Sabres 1, Flyers 0: Ryan Miller stopped 35 shots for his second career postseason shutout and Patrick Kaleta scored to lift the visiting Buffalo Sabres to a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series.

Miller stopped every shot under all types of pressure for the Sabres. The teams have met eight times in the postseason and the Game 1 winner won the series each time.

Kaleta scored at 5:56 of the third period when he powered a rebound past rookie Sergei Bobrovsky. -- AP