BOSTON (Ticker) -- Thanks to Joe Juneau, the Montreal Canadiens avoided a third straight shutout.
Juneau beat Felix Potvin on a partial breakaway 99 seconds into overtime, ending a scoring drought of nearly 200 minutes for the Canadiens and giving them a 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins.
After picking up the puck in the neutral zone, Juneau beat defenseman Sean O'Donnell to his left and broke in on Potvin. The former Bruin briefly lost control of the puck but was able to slide it between Potvin's pads for his first goal of the season.
"I was just about to make a move, go on my forehand and try to go upstairs," Juneau said. "I think he (Potvin) was coming with me. He pretty much read my move and at the time I lost the puck, his pads were open, so it's kind of why the puck went in. It's one of those lucky bounces."
"This was a desperation team and that's how you get out of slump, with goals like that," Potvin said. "It was a close game and we had a sense after the first period that one goal was going to win it."
The goal ended a drought of 199 minutes, 15 seconds and enabled the Canadiens to avoid being shut out in three straight games for the first time since October 23-29, 1949. Montreal had been blanked since scoring early in the third period of Saturday's 6-2 loss to Ottawa.
"You can talk about the fact we've been shut out the last two games, but at the same time, I really felt we deserved the game," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "I thought we respected our game plan from start to finish."
Juneau felt especially satisfied after scoring the game-winner against his former team.
"It's always nice," he said. "I've said it many times, I love Boston. The day I was traded from here was probably the toughest day in my NHL career."
The Bruins and Canadiens last played a scoreless tie on December 21, 1968, when Gerry Cheevers and Tony Esposito were the goaltenders.
Montreal, which snapped a three-game losing streak, outplayed Boston in this one but repeatedly was frustrated by Potvin, who made 37 saves, including 14 in the second period and 13 in the third.
"We dominated," said Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore, who leads the NHL with three shutouts. "It's just a big boost for everybody."
Theodore had a quieter time with 21 saves, although he stopped Brian Rolston on a breakaway with 9 1/2 minutes left in regulation.
"I knew he likes to shoot five-hole, so I was leaving the five-hole a little bit open for him to shoot there," Theodore said. "When I saw him coming with speed and he tried to get me to go down, I was just patient enough to follow him. I just put my pad out and he didn't have anywhere to shoot."
"I broke to my forehand and all I needed to do was flip it over him," Rolston explained. "It was hard because I had a lot of speed going, but that is a play you have to make."
The Bruins came into the game with just one loss in their previous seven games but remained winless at home at 0-1-1-1.
Blanked by Boston, 2-0, in its last home game on Tuesday, Montreal had more jump at the start, holding the Bruins to one shot in the first 10 minutes and six in the opening period.
"It was one of those games," Bruins coach Mike Sullivan said. "Montreal is a real disciplined team and plays a conservative style and we knew the type of team they were. They played a suffocating type of game. I thought we didn't do a good enough job through the neutral zone. We were trying to force plays that weren't there."
The Bruins' best sustained stretch came in the final three minutes of regulation. Their only power play came when Sandy McCarthy goaded defenseman Stephane Quintal into an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at 7:30 of the third period.
Montreal was 0-for-4 with the man advantage and has just one power-play goal in 23 chances over the last six games.
