Canadiens 4, Bruins 3: David Desharnais scored his second goal of the night at 9:17 of the third period to snap a tie as visiting Montreal extended its point streak to 11 games.

Less than four minutes after Max Pacioretty tied the contest with his eighth tally in as many games, Desharnais capped his second two-goal performance of the season by poking in a loose puck in the crease.

Pacioretty added an assist, Tomas Plekanec also scored and Peter Budaj made 31 saves for the Canadiens, who overtook the Bruins for first place in the Eastern Conference. Montreal, which snapped a five-game skid against Boston, is 8-0-3 since losing to Toronto on Feb. 9.

Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists, Tyler Seguin netted a tally and set up another and Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots for the Bruins, who had their six-game winning streak halted. Brad Marchand collected three assists as Boston lost in regulation for just the third time, with the first two setbacks coming at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres.

The teams combined for three goals in a 66-second span midway through the first period, with Montreal emerging with a 2-1 lead. Boston moved ahead in the second as Bergeron and Hamilton scored just over five minutes apart, but Pacioretty beat a screened Rask with a hard wrist shot from above the slot 5 1/2 minutes into the third to forge a 3-3 tie.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Things got chippy between the bitter Original Six rivals in the second period as Boston's Milan Lucic tussled with Montreal's Brandon Prust with five minutes remaining, and Bruins captain Zdeno Chara chased down and exchanged punches with Alexei Emelin 34 seconds later after the Canadiens defenseman cross-checked Seguin. ... Pacioretty failed to score a goal in his first 10 games of the season. ... Montreal improved to 6-1-2 on the road.