Habs find a way to split
MONTREAL The New York Rangers took a one-goal lead into the third period in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final against Montreal. They played defensively for the final 20 minutes and it ended up costing them.
The Rangers were a period away from taking a 2-0 series lead back to New York but the Canadiens threw everything they had at the visitors in the final 20 minutes and eventually broke through in the dying seconds. The best-of-seven series is now tied 1-1 after Montreal’s 4-3 overtime win.
Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec scored with 18 seconds remaining in the third before Alexander Radulov won it in overtime with 1:26 left on the clock.
The Canadiens outshot New York 18-9 in the third and 13-8 in overtime.
“We had stretches where they came really hard and made it tough for us,” said goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 54 shots — a personal-best for a post-season game. “They did a good job of keeping pucks in tonight and that’s where we got hurt.
“We had a couple of times to get the puck out and they worked hard to keep them in. That’s where they created their second and third chances.”
New York’s best opportunity in the third period came off the stick of Michael Grabner, who had already scored earlier in the game. Grabner was sent in all alone on the breakaway nine minutes into the third but he fired over the crossbar.
That would have given the Rangers a 4-2 lead.
Instead, the Canadiens were relentless in the final frame until they eventually found an equalizer.
Despite blowing the lead late, Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh felt the team’s strategy of sitting back and parking the bus was the right one.
“We were playing hard and well in our zone,” said McDonagh. “There were some scrambles where it looked like they were getting stuff happening, but I thought we kept them to the outside.
“It stings a lot.”
Montreal got goals from Jeff Petry and Paul Byron in the first period. Grabner, Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello scored for the Rangers.
BLUES 2, WILD 1
ST. PAUL, Minn. — With Jake Allen as steady as ever in the net and those big defencemen crowding the ice in front of him, the St. Louis Blues again stymied Minnesota’s attack.
All those misfires in the zone for the Wild added up to a wasted home-ice advantage.
Jaden Schwartz scored with 2:27 left during a disputed 4-on-4 situation and the Blues beat the Wild for a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.
“They’re not going to go away,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “But if we can get a little bit in their head, and more importantly for us start to find the blueprint of what we need to do to be successful and keep getting better as a group, then we’re happy.”
Joel Edmundson had the first goal after winning Game 1 in overtime, Allen made 23 saves, and Yeo devised another shrewd plan for his former team as the Wild had their shots on goal cut in half after an overwhelming 52-26 edge in the opener.
“We did enough to get the win,” Edmundson said, “and hopefully we can elevate our game a couple more notches in St. Louis.”
PENGUINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists, Marc-Andre Fleury stayed sharp in his second straight playoff start and the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled away for a victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Jake Guentzel added a goal and an assist to help the defending Stanley Cup champions take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal of the post-season, and Patric Hornqvist pushed in an empty-net goal.
Fleury finished with 39 saves while filling in for the injured Matt Murray, and received plenty of help. Pittsburgh blocked 23 shots before they even got to Fleury.
Brandon Saad scored for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots.