BOSTON — Phil Kessel's first NHL playoff experience is one he'd like to forget, and he's well on his way to erasing the memories of last year's postseason benching.

The third-year forward had two goals and an assist to lead Boston to a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens last night in the opener of the best-of-seven series.

"He's improved leaps and bounds," Bruins forward Marc Savard said. "He brings a dimension not too many guys have, with his speed and skill. He's ready to take the torch."

Tim Thomas stopped 26 shots for the East's top-seeded Bruins, and Zdeno Chara scored a power-play goal with 8:45 left to break a third-period tie before Kessel iced it with an empty-netter.

"It's nice," Kessel said, "but it's a long series."

Game 2 is tomorrow night.

Montreal and Boston have met an NHL-record 32 times in the playoffs, with the Canadiens winning 24 times, including last year.

MONTREAL 1 1 0 — 2

BOSTON 2 0 2 — 4

First Period—1, Boston, Kessel 1 (Krejci, Kobasew), 13:11. 2, Boston, Krejci 1 (Ryder, Lucic), 14:41. 3, Montreal, Higgins 1 (Metropolit, Tanguay), 16:19. Second Period—4, Montreal, Kovalev 1 (Koivu, Gorges), 17:37. Third Period—5, Boston, Chara 1 (Savard, Kessel), 11:15 (pp). 6, Boston, Kessel 2 (Lucic), 19:46 (en).

Shots on Goal—Montreal 9-13-6—28. Boston 15-10-14—39. Goalies—Montreal, Price. Boston, Thomas. A—17,565 (17,565). T—2:31.

RED WINGS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1

Jonathan Ericsson was credited with the go-ahead goal with 6:39 left in the second period on a shot that Manny Malhotra redirected into his own net trying to stop the puck with his glove as host Detroit beat Columbus.

COLUMBUS 0 1 0 — 1

DETROIT 0 3 1 — 4

First Period—None. Second Period—1, Detroit, Hudler 1 (Filppula, Samuelsson), 10:48. 2, Columbus, Umberger 1 (Voracek), 11:40. 3, Detroit, Ericsson 1 (Hudler, Filppula), 14:21. 4, Detroit, Kronwall 1 (Samuelsson, Franzen), 15:09 (pp). Third Period—5, Detroit, Franzen 1 (Zetterberg), 2:54.

Shots on Goal—Columbus 13-6-2—21. Detroit 14-12-8—34. Goalies—Columbus, Mason. Detroit, Osgood.

A—20,066 (20,066). T—2:26.

BLACKHAWKS 3, FLAMES 2

Martin Havlat scored 12 seconds into overtime and host Chicago won its first playoff game in seven years, beating Calgary in their opener of the West Conference quarterfinals.

CALGARY 1 0 1 0— 2

CHICAGO 0 1 1 1— 3

First Period—1, Calgary, Moss 1 (Conroy, Glencross), 8:38. Second Period—2, Chicago, Barker 1 (Toews, Walker), 13:17. Third Period—3, Calgary, Cammalleri 1 (Langkow, Bertuzzi), 3:54. 4, Chicago, Havlat 1 (Barker), 14:27. First Overtime—5, Chicago, Havlat 2 (Bolland), :12.

Shots on Goal—Calgary 10-11-4-0—25. Chicago 5-10-12-1—28. Goalies—Calgary, Kiprusoff. Chicago, Khabibulin. A—22,478 (20,500). T—2:35.

DUCKS 2, SHARKS 0

Jonas Hiller made his playoff debut with 35 saves for eighth-seeded Anaheim, and Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist in the third period in a victory over host San Jose in the opener of the first postseason series between two California clubs in four decades

ANAHEIM 0 0 2 — 2

SAN JOSE 0 0 0 — 0

First Period— None. Second Period—None. Third Period—1, Anaheim, S.Niedermayer 1 (Getzlaf, Whitney), 5:18 (pp). 2, Anaheim, Getzlaf 1 (Brown), 17:35.

Shots on Goal—Anaheim 4-7-6—17. San Jose 8-14-13—35. Goalies—Anaheim, Hiller. San Jose, Nabokov. A—17,496 (17,496). T—2:22.