Bruins stage miraculous comeback late in Game 2 to even series with Canadiens

The two-goal lead curse is alive and well. The Boston Bruins made that abundantly clear on Saturday, erasing a late deficit to rally and steal Game 2 from the Montreal Canadiens, tying the series at 1-1.

Boston’s 5-3 win featured the 20th blown two-goal lead in the 2014 NHL Playoffs, an astounding number considering the second round has just barely gotten underway.

The Bruins opened the scoring in the first when Daniel Paille slung a pass from Carl Soderberg past sliding Habs goalie Carey Price.

But Montreal was undeterred and continued to try to get under the Bruins’ skin to get them off their game. And, for the most part, it worked.

And when it did, Montreal took advantage. Thomas Vanek continued to make a big impact in the playoffs with two power play goals, both off tip-ins. His second score put the Canadiens up 3-1 with about ten minutes left in the game.

(H/T @PeteBlackburn)

The dreaded two-goal lead curse reared its ugly head after that. Dougie Hamilton made it a one-goal game with a goal at 10:56, and then Patrice Bergeron broke physics with the game-tying goal four minutes later.

(H/T @MyRegularFace)

Price was a rock for most of the game, but he and the rest of the Canadiens completely collapsed in the dying minutes. Reilly Smith’s game-winner at 16:28 almost seemed inevitable at that point.

Milan Lucic netted an empty-netter to make it 5-3, hammering the final nail in the Habs’ Game 2 coffin. The series now shifts back to Montreal for Game 3 on Tuesday.