With a 2-1 lead going into the third period, the formula the Canadiens would employ to get themselves to a Game 7 in Boston was pretty plain for anyone who has watched this team play on a consistent basis.

Hold on for dear life.

With the playoff success this misguided formula has had, it was hard to argue otherwise.

But when Carey Price was forced into an other-worldly save on Patrice Bergeron in the first minute of the third period, the impending sense of doom began.

Shift after shift, the Bruins spent time in the Canadiens end applying constant pressure on Price and a depleted defence missing James Wisniewski and leaning on a dangerously shaky Jaroslav Spacek to make up for the shortfall.

It was not looking good.

But then, with about eight minutes left, Lars Eller jumped over the boards with his linemates Jeff Halpern and Mathieu Darche.

Eller had been squished along the boards, and then again on the ice, by Adam McQuaid in the first period, suffering some sort of arm injury, likely a shoulder.

Eller barely played in the second period, but he was back on a regular shift by the third.

When he and his linemates jumped on for that shift, the Canadiens appeared to be reeling.

But for the next 40 seconds, he, Halpern and Darche pinned Boston deep, cycling and maintaining pressure, giving Price a chance to breathe.

Before the shift was over the play had shifted right back to the Montreal zone, but the work had already been done.

The Bruins rhythm had been broken. It was almost as if they needed to re-start an engine that takes an eternity to warm up, and that pattern of pressure they had been established was broken.

"I think it was the only time I saw anything below their blue line in the third," Halpern said with a laugh afterwards. "I think we caught them when their two defencemen were tired."

That may be true, but it was quite literally the only time in the third period the Canadiens spent a consistent amount of time in the offensive zone.

Price needed to make a couple of outstanding saves after that, one on Chris Kelly and another on David Krejci while the Bruins were shorthanded, but that sense of impending doom was no longer there. Boston was suddenly not on the verge of tying the game, but rather in the process of getting their mojo back.

It never came back, and now the Canadiens find themselves with an opportunity that practically no one thought they had a chance to have.

"Anytime you take pressure off Carey and our D for 40 seconds, it's a big thing," Halpern said. "I just thought we did a good job of clogging things up, though they did get a couple of good looks. Our D played great, our goalie was exceptional and it was just a gutsy performance with all the injuries we had."

Playing with an injured arm, Eller had seven shifts in the third period with his linemates and had a major impact on the game despite failing to crack the 10-minute mark in total ice time.

"It wasn't just the third, he's been playing great for us," Halpern said. "He's using his size and his legs, not just to create chances at the other end but to play real solid in our end. He skates puck out of trouble, he leans on guys, stop cycles, he's been a big force for us down low and at getting pucks from our end to the other end."

The most curious part of that momentum-killing shift by Halpern, Eller and Darche has was that it coincided almost perfectly with the timing of a similar shift they had in Game 5, the one that produced the tying goal.

It's probably a coincidence, and I know I'm harping on this point, but when you think about Eller being benched for most of the third period of Game 4 it makes his importance to the Canadiens over the last two games all the more remarkable.

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