Chara scores twice to lift Bruins past Habs

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Boston Bruins eased to a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in a meeting of the Northeast Division's top teams on Tuesday, Zdeno Chara sparking the win with a pair of goals to back up Tim Thomas's 34-save effort.

Defenseman Chara leveled the score 8:23 into the second period before putting the division-leading Bruins ahead for good 10 minutes later, both markers coming during a powerplay.

"It (Chara's play) was huge," Thomas told reporters. "At the beginning of the game we came out and we were struggling to get some offense and Zdeno did a good job of filling in."

The Bruins turned to their captain after three of their top forwards missed the game -- Phil Kessel with mononucleosis and Marco Sturm and Milan Lucic with injuries. Sturm underwent surgery on his left knee on Tuesday and is out for the season.

Chara also had three hits and four blocked shots.

"He was outstanding tonight," Bruins coach Claude Julien told reporters. "Can't say enough about his performance."

Thomas made big saves in both the first and third periods, the latter with the score tied 1-1. He also went after Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn for the Canadien's hit on Boston's Aaron Ward in the second period.

"I looked over and see Aaron Ward over on the ice ... and I kind of lost it for a second," Thomas said.

Kostitsyn was given a five-minute penalty for boarding and Thomas drew two minutes for roughing, served by Ward.

"I guess the biggest issue with me is that this is not the first time this guy (Kostitsyn) does this," Julien said.

Ward did not return to the game.

David Krejci assisted on Chara's second tally and added an insurance goal late in the third period. He now has 31 assists and 17 goals for the season.

Kostitsyn collected Montreal's goal, scoring early in the second period to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage, before Boston scored three times without reply to snap the Canadiens four-game winning streak.

Boston stretched their lead over Montreal to 12 points with the win.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by John O'Brien and Peter Rutherford)