BOSTON - Saku Koivu had a goal and two assists, and Jose Theodore had 43 saves Thursday night, helping the Canadiens stay alive in the playoffs with a 5-1 victory over the Bruins.
The Canadiens trail the best-of-seven series 3-2 and will host Game 6 on Saturday night.
Montreal had two power-play goals, but the Bruins continued to struggle with the man advantage. Boston was 0-for-4 and is 2-for-22 in the series.
Koivu had a hand in both power-play goals. He scored on a rebound at 8:44 of the third to make it 4-1 when the Canadiens had a two-man advantage.
Koivu also assisted on Craig Rivet's power-play goal at 6:34 of the third that made it 5-1. Rivet beat Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft with a long slap shot.
The Bruins applied most of the early pressure, but Theodore held them off. The Canadiens scored on a quick counterattack at 14:17 of the first. Jason Ward sent Yanic Perreault in alone and his shot deflected off of Raycroft's pads and inside the far post.
The Bruins' best scoring chance of the period came with less than 12 minutes left when Dan McGillis hit the post with a shot from the left point.
The Canadiens took a 2-0 lead at 12:21 of the second period on a three-on-two break. Richard Zednik won the puck at center ice, passed to Koivu on his left. Koivu then made a cross-ice pass to Alex Kovalev, who scored his fourth of the series.
RED WINGS 4, PREDATORS 1: Pavel Datsyuk's dazzling passes set up two goals before seven minutes elapsed for Detroit, which took a 3-2 series lead.
The home team has won each game in the first-round, best-of-seven series and the Predators hope to keep up the trend in Game 6 on Saturday in Nashville.
Henrik Zetterberg, Brett Hull and Brendan Shanahan scored in the first for the Red Wings, who are trying to avoid a second straight first-round flop after another successful regular season.
After Nicklas Lidstrom's power-play goal midway through the second gave Detroit a 4-0 lead, Nashville's Sergei Zholtok scored on the power play with 37.2 seconds left.
Detroit's Curtis Joseph had 19 saves in his first playoff start since the Red Wings were swept by Anaheim in the first round last season. Joseph, who has been hobbled with an ankle injury for much of the season, replaced Manny Legace.
Tomas Vokoun had 27 saves.
SHARKS 3, BLUES 1: San Jose's incredible regular season was no mistake. Injury replacement Mark Smith scored his first playoff goal and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 21 shots as the host Sharks clinched the series.
Mike Ricci got an insurance goal with 3:38 left, and Brad Stuart also scored as the second-seeded Sharks took the series 4-1, winning three games at the soldout Shark Tank. They're the first team to advance to the conference semifinals, which probably won't begin for a week.
A year after finishing 14th in the West, the Sharks capped their franchise-record 104-point regular season with their fifth trip to the second round. They've never reached the conference finals - but they've never been on such a late-season roll, either.
BAKER WINNER SIGNS: Junior Lessard signed a one-year contract with the Stars after leading Minnesota-Duluth to the Frozen Four. Last week he received the Hobey Baker Award, given to college's best player.
RATINGS: ESPN's ratings for its first five Stanley Cup playoff telecasts increased 11 percent from last year, when it was its worst.
This year's games were watched in an average of 0.5 percent of the 88-million U.S. homes with cable television, according to Nielsen Media Research Inc. Last year, the network's first five playoff telecasts drew an 0.45 rating.
