Canadiens pull off must needed win against Rangers. Series Tied

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The Montreal Canadiens came out with a major fight that ended in thrilling victory Friday night. Alexander Radulov took on the role of overtime hero in the final minutes scoring his first career playoff goal that beating the New York Rangers 4-3 at Centre Bell. The much-needed win in Game 2 leveled the playing field in the series at one game apiece.

The Rangers victory on Wednesday gave them a bigger advantage than they realized themselves. Montreal continued to have trouble winning on their home ice during the postseason taking their fourth loss of their last five. Both Henrik Lundqvist and Carey Price played strong games but two goals to New York left performance nods to go the Rangers netminder who wanted to start the series on the right foot. With one game left before the playoffs switch to New York, Montreal wanted to even up or face a surprising 2-0 deficit for the Atlantic Division champions.

Price knew the importance of having a good start as he made good stops against the Rangers who found scoring chances early on. The Canadiens offense was trying to produce offense but the Rangers were blocking them from putting anything good at the net. After four minutes of attempts, an offensive drive and slapping the puck around gave Jeff Petry the team’s first goal of the postseason.

The confidence booster of getting on the board allowed the Canadiens to dictate their actions further against the visitors that increased the shots on goal. After 10 minutes, the Habs had shot four times but had a few more close scoring opportunities at Lundqvist. The pace became furious for the Canadiens who wanted to up the margin against the Rangers while there was plenty of time on the clock. It nearly came on a Paul Byron breakaway where he went 1 on 1 with Lundqvist but couldn’t get the forehand shot clear of the goaltender.

The Rangers got a similar chance a minute later as a loose puck got out of control for the Canadiens. It was picked up by Michael Grabner who went on the breakaway to beat Price who froze up before watching the backhander go in behind him. The need to return to the lead was once again imperative for the Canadiens who worked hard to set up their best players for a chance. Brendan Gallagher took a shot at net that went off the stick of Byron who got credit for the goal for his first playoff career goal.

The aggression from the Canadiens was intense to the point where they evened with the Rangers at nine shots each. Winning more on the faceoff was another key factor but giving the puck away was something they had to figure out going into the second where New York would come back with changes.

They came out challenging both sides of Montreal’s game who dealt with it stopping some close shots that Price took care of nicely. Both teams traded off time with the puck playing even strength for some time. The game increased six minutes in where New York worked their first power play of the game but couldn’t get anything easy by Price. The penalty kill for the Canadiens gave them a powerful response that soon reflected differently. Mats Zuccarello took the brunt of it with a hard hit from behind by Montreal forward Steve Ott.

The check into the boards erupted into a fight by both teams sending things into 3 on 3 for a short time. When things got back to even strength, the Canadiens found their chance to go up a man on New York. The Habs couldn’t increase their goal margin against the Rangers but did get four big shots that had them outshooting their Original Six rivals 10-4 halfway in.

A very good play by the Rangers allowed the game to even up at two all just before the ten-minute mark. New York used the boards to get the puck stretched across the ice where Rick Nash got the puck high on the top shelf to score his first. Brendan Smith played a great assist during an offensive fight for control in the Montreal zone.

His drive to the net caught the stick of Zuccarello who earned his revenge scoring his eighth career playoff goal and a 3-2 lead for his team. The Rangers spent the remainder of time left conducting plays on the ice till the period came to an end. Although they were outshot 18-12 having the lead for the second time after two periods was becoming a major stance to stay ahead on both the score and the series.

New York finished off the rest of their power play but they soon had to deal with the Habs being on the power play sitting just a goal down. The Rangers defense was well into play trying to keep their lead together and kill off a chunk from the clock. After eight minutes, the teams had taken six shots each giving the indication of a tight game till the finish.

The Rangers added pressure to the Canadiens as the minutes fell faster leaving them very little time to tie things up. The biggest challenge for Lundqvist came on a second moment where he lost his stick and had to deal with Montreal without it. As he was away from the net, the Rangers defense did everything to cover up the crease until he could return. He got back into place still without a stick but made a big save followed by gloving the puck to end play.

Three minutes were standing between New York’s 2-0 lead or a chance for the Canadiens to force overtime. Price took off for the bench with 90 seconds on the clock but despite the 15 shots that were already recorded in the period, getting the mission of tying the game got much harder. Six men got to work keeping the play inside the Rangers zone never letting it cross the blue line. With 17 seconds left, Tomas Plekanec was the hero that slapped his stick to the puck in midair scoring the tying goal that secured more time for them to save a game on home ice from going sour.

As the overtime period began, the Canadiens were all over it for a lengthy period of time. They wanted nothing more than to end the game with any kind of goal getting behind Lundqvist. He and the Rangers defense showed signs of struggle on defense but kept Montreal from getting one in. It wasn’t until eight minutes in where New York was able to move into the Habs zone to fire a couple on Price. He made the key stops helping play return back to the New York end where the Habs had their eyes on the prize.

As the period went deeper, New York managed to push the game into Montreal for longer periods of time. They had Price as a target once again but couldn’t get the game winner behind him. The Canadiens clearly saw this coming and knew that they couldn’t let the game get out of hand. They fought through several minutes of fighting for possession that had them outshooting the Rangers. With less than two minutes left, the big moments were alive as it was either to end here or go into double OT.

For the Canadiens, it was another fight around the crease to get them the victory. Radulov used his experience in the KHL and bring home the win with a massive game winner that sent fans into an eruption that put them on an even footing with the Rangers going on.

Price earned a major win for his career where he dealt with a lot more in the late stages of overtime. By the time Radulov scored the game winner, the Montreal netminder logged in 35 saves for a .921 save percentage. It was clear that despite the loss, Lundqvist reached a new high in his postseason career where he made 54 saves on the night with a .931 percentage. He and the Rangers would have to brush the loss off hoping to carry similar results when they host the Canadiens for a pair of games that begin Sunday at Madison Square Garden.