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The Montreal Canadiens entered Thursday night’s game against the Bruins needing just one point to clinch a playoff spot. After preserving a tie for the final 15 minutes of the third period, the Habs officially clinched. With nothing left to play for when the overtime period began, the Canadiens quickly lost to the Bruins 5-4.

Mark Recchi tallied two goals and two assists in all, including the game-winning score just 2:42 into the first overtime period to beat the rival Canadiens. Montreal could be the East’s No. 8 seed and Boston’s first-round playoff opponent as a result.

The Bruins scored goals in the first period (Patrice Bergeron) and third period (Zdeno Chara) that sandwiched a wild second period.

In that period, the Bruins scored two goals at 3:12 (Phil Kessel) and 5:30 (Recchi), but Montreal scored four of their own to take a 4-3 lead at the time. Alexei Kovalev and Mathieu Schneider each scored one goal and Matt D’Agostini added two.

Desipte the rough second period, Tim Thomas finished with 35 saves in 39 chances to earn his 36th win of the season.

The Bruins close out the regular season with two games on the road. The B’s face the Sabres on Saturday and the Islanders on Sunday.

About KC Downey

KC is the "head coach" of the Sports of Boston, LLC blog network. Follow him on Twitter: @kc_downey

Tags: Alexei Kovalev, Bruins, Mark Recchi, Montreal Canadiens, Patrice Bergeron, Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara