Patrice Bergeron scored twice as the Boston Bruins dropped the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in the first game of pre-season action for both teams Wednesday.

All of Boston's goals came against Montreal goaltender Carey Price, who let in four of the first eight shots he faced.

The Bell Centre crowd chanted Price's name during his pre-game introduction, but the chants turned to jeers as he left the ice to be replaced by back-up Curtis Sanford with half the game remaining.

Nathan Horton and Johnny Boychuk also scored for Boston, while Maxim Lapierre and Tomas Plekanec replied for Montreal.

Horton didn't take long to make a strong impression in his first game as a Bruin. Acquired in an off-season trade that sent defenceman Dennis Wideman and draft picks to the Florida Panthers,

Horton beat Price clean on the short side with a wrist shot 1:31 into the first period.

Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk made it 2-0 as the Bruins capitalized four seconds into their first power play. Tyler Seguin, the second overall selection in this summer's draft, picked up his first NHL assist.

"Before the game, sitting in the dressing room, and seeing there's 21,000 people there, I got the shivers, but it's something I'll get used to," said the 18-year-old Seguin. "I made a couple of errors in the first period, but I felt more confident and comfortable after that.

Price is being counted on to shore up the goaltending in Montreal after the Canadiens dealt netminder Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues in the off-season.

"We all got his back and we're all supporting him," said Habs forward Mike Cammalleri in defence of his goaltender. "No one in here is booing him, so if everyone wants to identify with this team, we're all supporting him so jump on board."

The Canadiens didn't make Price available for comment.

Price's counterpart Tuukka Rask was sensational, stopping 36 of the 38 shots he faced.

"I felt good but I don't feel the same as I would after 20 games," said Rask. "It's not a shutout, but I've got be happy. Not many mistakes."

Bergeron took advantage of a nice play set up by Daniel Paille as the Bruins went up 3-0 in the first period. Bergeron added his second of the night 2:17 into the second period after stripping Jaroslav Spacek of the puck and beating Price with a backhand-forehand deke while the Bruins were short handed.

Lapierre gave the Bell Centre faithful something to cheer about, as he scored short-handed make the score 4-1 on a nice feed from Plekanec.

Plekanec made the score 4-2 with a power-play goal with just 40 seconds remaining in the second.

The Bruins are on their way to Rochester from Montreal to take on the Florida Panthers, while the Canadiens are off until Friday, when they will welcome the Ottawa Senators to the Bell Centre.

The Canadiens played their first of five exhibition games in six nights.