Canadiens Slow Rangers Surge With Shootout Win
Canadiens Slow Rangers Surge With Shootout Win:- A visit from the Montreal Canadiens stirs the Rangers and the Madison Square Garden crowd in a unique way, even beyond the built-in drama of any matchup between so-called Original Six teams.
Perhaps it is attributable to the swirl of the opposing red, white and blue uniforms, or because Rangers Coach Alain Vigneault led the Canadiens for parts of four seasons and later took much glee in defeating Montreal in the intense Eastern Conference finals in 2014.
The Rangers won that round after Montreal’s goaltender Carey Price was injured early in the series in a collision with Chris Kreider.
This latest Manhattan confrontation had the Canadiens arriving with a new coach, Claude Julien, who had previously led Montreal from 2003 to 2006. Julien, who was fired by the Boston Bruins on Feb. 7, was rehired by the Canadiens on Feb. 14, to replace Michel Therrien.
A recent skid had left the Canadiens clinging to a tenuous Atlantic Division lead that they had seized with a dazzling 9-0-1 start this season.
But with a 1-6-1 mark in their previous eight games entering their first Garden visit since November 2015, the Canadiens skated with purpose against the surging Rangers (38-19-2), who had won seven of eight games this month.
Montreal twice took one-goal leads, but the contest entered the third period tied at 2-2. After a scoreless third period and overtime, Montreal’s Paul Byron recorded the decisive goal in the fifth round of a shootout to lift the Canadiens (32-20-8) to a much-needed 3-2 victory.
Carey Price made 28 saves, including a spectacular sprawling stop on the Rangers’ J. T. Miller as overtime expired, sending the game into the shootout.
With the victory, Price, 29, tied the Hall of Famer Ken Dryden with 258 wins, third on the Canadiens’ career list.
Montreal’s Andrew Shaw opened the scoring on a wraparound 3 minutes 55 seconds into the first period, beating Henrik Lundqvist on his stick side for his eighth goal of the season.
Oscar Lindberg — who has replaced Brandon Pirri in recent weeks as the Rangers’ fourth-line center — scored his third of the season on a slick assist from his linemate Jesper Fast at 10:03.
Fast lost his balance as he slid a pass into the slot from the right wing, but the puck found Lindberg in perfect position for the deflection. Defenseman Brady Skjei also assisted, his 26th of the season.
Montreal defenseman Shea Weber scored at 1:42 of the second period on a booming shot from the left point to put the Canadiens ahead, 2-1. But Rick Nash fought off Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry before beating Price with a high shot at 9:26 for his 17th goal to tie it again.
The same vitriol that permeated the six-game playoff series between the teams three years ago reappeared midway through the second when Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher steamrollered Lundqvist at 11:09 and was penalized for interference. Gallagher was tangled with Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh but seemed to still barrel into the Rangers’ goaltender with full force.
But the Rangers mustered little on the ensuing power play — as did the Canadiens when the Rangers were called for too many men nearly four minutes later.
In overtime, Lundqvist made a glove save 30 seconds in on Max Pacioretty, then stopped him again from in close two minutes later.
Price denied Miller with 35.3 seconds left before capping the extra period with his acrobatic sliding save as time wound down.
It was the second narrow loss to the Canadiens for the Rangers, who dropped a quirky 5-4 game at Montreal on Jan. 14. Antti Raanta left that contest with an injury after the first period, and Lundqvist allowed five goals the rest of the way, including three in a 62-second span of the third period.
Source:- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/sports/hockey/new-york-rangers-montreal-canadiens.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fsports&action=click&contentCollection=sports®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
