MONTREAL - Rene Bourque had just nine goals and 16 points in 63 regular season games, but the Canadiens forward has become a key cog in Montreals offence during the playoffs. A trade bait name brought up over and over again on local radio, web message boards and social media all season, Bourque netted his first career playoff hat trick in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final Tuesday, giving him eight goals and 11 points in 16 playoffs games and helping his team stave off elimination with a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers. A while his sudden emergence as a scoring threat in the playoffs has surprised many, its nothing new to his teammates. Despite his regular season struggles, they never doubted the 62, 217-pound power forward would shine through when it mattered most. "Ive said it before and Ill say it again, hes got world class speed and a world class shot and its showing right now in the playoffs," said forward Max Pacioretty, who also chipped in Tuesday night with a goal and an assist. "Hes a bigger body and he plays a simple game and that suits him well in the playoffs. Its a great time for him to step up and he was huge tonight, he helped out a lot." After the Canadiens blew a 4-1 lead in the second period on Tuesday night, Bourque halted the Rangers comeback scoring his second goal of the game at 15:10 of the second period to make the score 5-4 and give Montreal a lead they wouldnt relinquish. Bourque then added another goal at 6:33 of the third period to complete the hat trick and help the Canadiens avoid elimination for the third time in these Stanley Cup playoffs. Montreal will try to repeat the feat for a fourth time in Game 6 in New York on Thursday and force a Game 7 back in Montreal on Saturday. "Even going back to last year, he just loves this time of year," said forward Brendan Gallagher. "Hes leading by example again. For him to go out there and score not only three goals but very timely goals was big. Anytime you give up the lead like that and can come right back and score thats big. Thats what clutch guys do at this time of year, they score timely goals." Since being acquired from Calgary two years ago in a trade that saw popular scorer Michael Cammalleri go the other way, many have doubted Bourques role on this team. But not Gallagher and his teammates. They saw a hard-working character player that could come up big when it mattered most. "You just gotta understand the character he has," Gallagher explained. "Hes big. Hes a guy that we rely on. He showed up and thats what we expect from him. Hes a competitor. He loves the atmosphere and he loves the opportunity we have right now and thats kind of expected from him." Michel Therrien was also thrilled with Bourques performance. "He played a great game; he was a force out there," the Canadiens head coach said. "On the forecheck, he took the man. He was moving his feet. He was going hard to the map mat. Hes a very good scorer, so definitely that was a great performance by him." The always quite and humble Bourque wasnt about to take all the credit though. "Everybody was ready for this game," he said after the game. "We knew the situation. We got a big power-play goal early and a few others. "It was just a see-saw battle back and forth. (Dale) Weise made a great play to me. I called for the puck and somehow it got through. It was nice to get in there." The pucks have gotten through for Bourque just one less time than they did in the regular season and the Canadiens are hoping his clutch run continues as they try to come back from what is now a one-game deficit. James Murphy is a freelance reporter who also writes for NHL.com, the Boston Herald and XNsports.com. He covered the Boston Bruins/NHL for last 11 seasons writing for ESPNBoston.com, ESPN.com, NHL.com, NESN.com, the Boston Metro, Insidehockey.com and Le Hockey Magazine. Murphy also currently hosts the radio show "Murphys Hockey Law" heard Saturdays 9-11 AM ET on Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio and 4-6 PM ET on Websportsmedia.com. In addition to that, he is a regular guest TSN 690 in Montreal and Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio as well as a hockey analyst on CTV Montreal. Masahiro Tanaka Jersey . According to MMAFighting.com, MacDonald needs an x-ray on his right ankle and doctors clearance to fight or he will be subject to a mandatory medical suspension that will end on August 22, 2014. 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SONOMA, Calif. -- Carl Edwards has never been known for his road racing skills -- to the point team owner Jack Roush had to send him testing in a two-seater so Boris Said could teach him the basics. A decade later, Edwards finally has a win to show for his hard work. And, he beat road racing ace Jeff Gordon to get to Victory Lane on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, where Gordon leads all drivers with five wins. "My road racing progression, its been a pretty long climb," Edwards said. "The real special part to me was to stand in Victory Lane at Sonoma and have Jeff Gordon come and give me a handshake as the second-place finisher. I grew up watching Jeff Gordon, and specifically watching how he drove this race track and all the successes he had here, so I mean, thats really super. Its something Ill never forget." Edwards win made Roush Fenway Racing the unlikely organization to end Hendrick Motorsports five-race winning streak. And, the win came a week after Roush was shut out at Michigan, where the organization failed to put a car in the top 10 for the first time since 2000. Edwards took the lead on a restart with 25 laps remaining and seemed to have the win wrapped up until Gordon nearly chased him down on the final lap. Gordon had one good look at Edwards and couldnt pull off the pass. "That last lap was ugly," Edwards said of trying to hold off Gordon. It wasnt a terrible day for the Hendrick organization, which had won every Sprint Cup Series race since Gordons victory at Kansas on May 10. Instead, HMS settled for all four of its drivers finishing in the top seven. Gordon, the Sprint Cup Series points leader, wound up second. He said he made one mistake in overdriving a turn with about five laps to go that allowed Edwards to build a healthy lead. "I just couldnt put enough pressure on him," Gordon said. "I think had I put some more pressure on him, I saw him really struggling with the (tire) grip level, but he did everything he needed to do. That last lap, I gave it my best effort and closed up on him and he didnt overdrive it. I was hoping he might slide up and Id get a run on him." Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third after rallying from an inciident that wrecked Matt Kenseth, and was apologetic on the radio and after the race.dddddddddddd "I tried to screw it up a couple times in the race, but I calmed down and was able to get a good finish," Earnhardt said after his career-best finish on a road course. "I got into Matt, I jumped a curb and jumped into the air and just ran into him. Totally my fault. I hope hes not sore with me." Kasey Kahne bounced back from an early flat tire to finish sixth and Jimmie Johnson was seventh. In all, Chevrolet drivers took spots two through seven as pole-sitter Jamie McMurray, using a Hendrick engine, finished fourth and Paul Menard was fifth. Fords rounded out the top 10, led by Edwards, Marcos Ambrose eighth and Roush driver Greg Biffle was 10th. The highest-finishing Toyota was Clint Bowyer in 11th. Bowyer was the leader on a restart with 31 laps to go, was passed by Ambrose, and then got a flat left rear tire. The tire problem led to Jamie McMurray turning Bowyer, and as Bowyers car was stopped in the middle of the track, bottleneck traffic caused Kevin Harvick to run into Bowyer. "We got ourselves in position and had a flat. It was going down and I was all over the place," he said. "Jamie just kind of finished me up and got me out of the way. Bad luck, man." Edwards win is his first career victory on a road course, and hed never been higher than third at Sonoma. More important, it was his second win of this season and locks him into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field. It was Edwards 23rd win of his career, the 135th Sprint Cup Series victory for car owner Jack Roush, and it made Edwards the 10th consecutive different winner at Sonoma. Crew chief Jimmy Fennig said the race played into their hands after pitting with 40 to go and then a caution came out and Fennig made the call to not bring Edwards in a second time under yellow. The strategy moved Edwards toward the front of the field and he moved his way to the front. "When you got somebody like Carl behind the wheel, and you put him out front, hes going to get it done," Fennig said. "To have two wins right now and to be locked in really feels good." ' ' '