The Associated Press

Canadiens goaltender Mathieu Garon watches the overtime goal by the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron slide into the net. (AP photo)

BOSTON - Patrice Bergeron scored 1:26 into overtime to give Boston a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night and lift the Bruins to a 2-0 lead in the quarterfinals of the NHL Eastern Conference playoffs.

Andrew Raycroft stopped 25 shots, and Michael Nylander also scored for the Bruins. Jose Theodore made 17 saves, and Patrice Brisebois had the Canadiens' only goal. It was 1-1 after two periods, and it stayed that way through the third. But just a minute into overtime, Bergeron took a pass from Nylander near center ice and brought the puck into Montreal's zone and scored.

He stickhandled toward the net and made a fake - or maybe a stumble - between the circles, then took a wrist shot that went off Theodore's glove before trickling into the net. The Boston players swarmed around him, and the Canadiens headed mournfully to their bench.

Avalanche 5, Stars 2

DENVER - Colorado's top line of Peter Forsberg, Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk combined for two goals and four assists, lifting the Avalanche over Dallas.

Forsberg and Tanguay scored for the second straight game and had an assist each, and Hejduk added two assists to give Colorado a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven-series. Joe Sakic also scored for the second straight game and Dan Hinote added a goal.

The Stars, who got goals from Mike Modano and Chris Therien, were 1-for-7 on the power play after going scoreless in five chances in Game 1, and gave up three power-play goals.

Game 3 is Monday in Dallas, where the Stars were 26-7-8 this season.

Flames 2, Canucks 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Jarome Iginla and Matthew Lombardi scored 50 seconds apart in the first period and Miikka Kiprusoff made 25 saves as the Calgary Flames evened their first-round playoff series with Vancouver by beating the Canucks 2-1 Friday night.

It was the Flames' first playoff win since 1995 and gives them home-ice advantage as the best-of-seven Western Conference series heads to Calgary for Games 3 and 4 on Sunday and Tuesday.

Markus Naslund scored and Dan Cloutier made 22 saves for the Canucks, who had won seven straight, six in the regular season and the series opener against Calgary on Wednesday.

FROZEN FOUR: Maine advanced to tonight's NCAA Division I championship game with a 2-1 win over Boston College Thursday. In the Final Four's first game, Denver overcame a 3-1 third-period deficit and beat Minnesota Duluth 5-3.

Denver (26-12-5), coached by former Miami RedHawks mentor George Gwozdecky, has won five NCAA championships, but the Pioneers are playing in the title game for the first time since they last won it in 1969. Maine (33-7-3) has two hockey titles, in 1993 and 1999.

HOBEY BAKER AWARD: Minnesota Duluth forward Junior Lessard beat out Brown goalie Yann Danis and North Dakota forward Zach Parise of college hockey's top player. Lessard led the nation with 30 goals and 61 points.

TEAM USA: The United States enters the world championships with a roster full of NHL players, after a dismal showing last year almost got it relegated to a secondary group. The 17 players selected include three members of the 2002 runnerup Olympic squad - New York Rangers goaltender Mike Dunham, Buffalo Sabres forward Chris Drury and Los Angeles Kings defenseman Aaron Miller. Six more players will be added before for the tournament place from April 24-May 9 in the Czech Republic.