NHL: Boston 4, Montreal 1

MONTREAL, April 22 (UPI) -- Michael Ryder scored twice Wednesday and Boston advanced to the second round of the playoffs by downing Montreal 4-1.

The Bruins, seeded No. 1 in the East, became the NHL's second team to make it past the opening round of the two-month playoff grind. Vancouver reached the second round in the West Tuesday.

Boston eliminated Montreal in four straight games and won its first playoff series in a decade. The loss brought an end to the Canadiens' 100th season.

Ryder, who spent his first four NHL seasons with Montreal, tied the game by snapping a shot past Carey Price with 2:33 to play in the opening period. He scored his fourth goal of the series with 7:17 to go in the second, making it 4-1.

That concluded a big series for Ryder, who scored the game-winning goal in Game 3 Monday in what turned out to be a 4-2 victory.

David Krejci scored the go-ahead goal Wednesday with 35 seconds left in the first period and Phil Kessel padded the Boston lead 11:58 into the second.

Tim Thomas, who started all four games of the series, made 19 saves. He will be appearing in the second round of the playoffs for the first time in his five-year career.

The most action produced by Montreal came from Mike Komisarek, who was penalized 5 minutes in the second period for fighting Milan Lucic, then received another 5-minute major penalty plus a game misconduct midway through the third period for cross-checking Lucic.