Canadiens reach major high to overwhelm Rangers for 2-1 series lead

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

A major response gave Montreal a heavy lead at Madison Square Garden on Easter Sunday. There was nothing peaceful about the Rangers performance where they lost 3-1 at Madison Square Garden to the Canadiens. Problems with New York’s overall play on the ice dropped them down to a 2-1 series deficit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Montreal’s important victory Friday at home not only ended a losing streak in the postseason, but leveled the playing field with the Rangers to pressure their rivals going into Game 3. Though it took a large amount of overtime before Alexander Radulov ‘s game winner, the Canadiens had a mission to be the stronger ones in the game to overpower New York and create power to their offense.

The Rangers had some push early on with Mats Zuccarello taking charge of shooting the puck at Carey Price in net for the Habs. The rush continued with Chris Kreider nearly getting the opening goal by four feet until they later gained a power play prior to the four-minute mark. They couldn’t produce anything good making it the eighth man advantage in the series where they failed to convert. Despite the missed chance, the Rangers were still inching closer to getting one as a scoring chance from Oscar Lindberg went off the post nearly beating Price.

It was the closest opportunity through eight minutes but a sudden rush came from Montreal who played tough recording a pair of tries at Henrik Lundqvist but were denied by the fast moves of the New York netminder. His performance was once again tested by Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty who went in point blank only to see his shot blocked by Lundqvist. They continued to bring them heavily in the Rangers zone but despite firing eight shots through 14 minutes, the game remained scoreless.

A boost for the Rangers arrived with four minutes left as a key power play played a huge threat to the Habs in their zone. Some good plays in front of the crease of Price led to a scrum where the puck got loose on a few occasions. Despite every push to get the opening goal, the Rangers were foiled once again handing Montreal their ninth consecutive penalty kill. The remaining time on the clock belonged to the Canadiens who took some more shots and played tremendous defense to end 20 minutes. They outshot New York 10-6 and overwhelmed them on the faceoff dot winning 71 percent of the draws.

The second took on a smoother run for the teams as they played even strength for a majority of the period. New York minimized the opportunities showing more strength to keep the Habs from running away with any kind of momentum. It wasn’t until the late stages that Montreal started to increase their power as they continued to dominate on the faceoff. A late penalty to the Rangers gave Montreal their one best chance to score while a man up with four minutes left.

After nearly a minute and a half elapsed from the Montreal power play, a three-man offense ended with Artturi Lehkonen firing a shot top shelf for his first of the postseason and the game changer to end the second period. With that and holding the Rangers to half a dozen shots, going into the third period spelled a great chance for them to hold the lead.

The Habs were still on the mark firing away to gain more ground while they had the early chance to do so. Through seven minutes of play, Montreal fired off four shots coming back to the Rangers end where they pressured Lundqvist who was now considered vulnerable. They handed the Habs a double minor power play that resulted in power shooter Shea Weber to score a scorcher for a commanding 2-0 lead. The response from Montreal took the air out of the fans at MSG who were disappointed in their team who were underperforming to their standards.

It got better for Montreal and worse for the Rangers as a hard push to the front of the crease gave Radulov an easy tip in for his second and a major victory that assured them a win with four minutes left. The Rangers were left with very little options and pulled Lundqvist to give New York six attackers. It took them sometime go get something going but with under three minutes to go, a slap shot from the far end gave them their first goal with Brady Skjel getting credit for it.

The net remained empty for New York who felt that they might have the chance to get it done but the Canadiens had other intentions to keep their results secure. The final seconds of defense from the Habs took the last efforts away from the Rangers who would need a better result going on.

New York recorded 21 shots on goal, gave up the puck too many times and struggled on the faceoff. Lundqvist stopped 26 on the night but struggled with problems on the defense. He and his team will get another chance to regroup when they host Montreal in Game for scheduled for Tuesday.