Boston and Pittsburgh try to win and move forward

The Bruins and Penguins have their first shot of moving to East Finals when they play Monday night. Boston theoretically has the easier task, playing on home ice at TD Garden, however they are not as large a favorite as Pittsburgh is on the road north of the border. Will both emerge victorious and get ready to meet each other or will they be forced to play another game?

Philadelphia at Boston 7:00E TSN

The Bruins can’t feel too bad losing to the Flyers in Game 4. Philadelphia had to win to avoid the embarrassment of being swept on their own frozen pond and Boston pushed them to overtime before falling.

Normally reliable defenseman Zdeno Chara turned the puck over at center ice, leading to the winner for Philly.

"We had our chances," said Boston coach Claude Julien. "There were chances in overtime for both sides. It's just the way it goes. Sometimes its one little mistake, one little miscue, and it's in the net."

The B’s are back home and are 41-16 having won three of their last four. This is a confident club, knowing what it takes from this point.

“Just play the same way: Play to win," said right wing Mark Recchi, who had two more goals Friday night. "We came in here (Philadelphia) and played two pretty good games. They battled hard and got a big win. But we're going home. We've got home-ice (advantage) in this series and we've kept it.”

The Bruins have to revert back to defensive-style, which has allowed them to be 36-13 when they permit two or less goals. Offensively it is about finding the right opportunities and the importance of center Patrice Bergeron is greatly enhanced with of fellow C David Krejci out for the rest of the playoffs with broken wrist.

Boston is a -145 money line favorite with total Ov5 and they are unbeaten at home in the postseason (5-0) and 7-0 as Bean-Town favorites. The Bruins are 14-4 UNDER in dark home jerseys when playing with two days’ rest.

Philly survived their first elimination game and is 9-2 away after a one goal victory on home ice. Nevertheless, the Flyers are 3-9 after a game where nine or more total goals were scored this season.

Pittsburgh at Montreal 7:00E VERSUS

The Canadiens have kept Sidney Crosby locked up, as he has failed to score in this series and has been held without a point in three of five conflicts. This has shifted the focus over to Evgeni Malkin, last year’s regular-season scoring champ and playoff MVP.

Malkin has been a factor in each contest against Montreal, but he was dominating when his team needed him most with series tied 2-2. Malkin controlled the puck for long stretches of time in the Canadiens zone. He led Pittsburgh with six shot attempts in Game 5 and though he didn’t score, he set up a power-play goal by Kris Letang, and later controlled the rubber in the offensive zone before Sergei Gonchar tallied what would be the winner in tight 2-1 tussle.

"It's great to watch. It's great to have him on your team," said veteran forward Bill Guerin, who returned to the lineup after an undisclosed injury kept him out of Games 3 and 4. "When he takes it to that level, it's really, really hard for other guys to stop him. Even two guys, he's going to make it difficult on you. If he's not taking it to the net himself, he's going to find somebody. If he gets in that zone of playing, it's really difficult for the other team."

The Pens have won five of last six as visitors and are -175 ML pick to close out series. Pittsburgh is 5-1 as visiting favorite of -151 to -200 and are 27-14 UNDER in road games after allowing one or fewer goals in previous contest.

Montreal doesn’t sound like a team getting ready to play golf and have the summer off. “We're not going to go away. You know that," Habs forward Mike Cammalleri said. "Now we just have to win one game at home and we're right back where we want to be."

The Canadiens might be 6-14 as playoff underdog, but all six wins have come this postseason and if they can contain Pittsburgh again and limit them to two goals, they are 26-14 when the opponent registers that scoring total.