Late surge draws Canadiens even
MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens looked to be in serious trouble until Tomas Plekanec gave them new life with a game-tying goal with 18 seconds left in regulation time.
And when Alexander Radulov scored 18:34 into overtime, it gave a whole new look to their NHL playoff series with the New York Rangers.
Instead of heading to New York trailing by two games, the Canadiens won 4-3 on Friday night to even the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final 1-1 with Game 3 set for Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
“Every time you win you kind of change the momentum,” said Plekanec. “You feel better about yourself and your game.
“But it’s just one game. We have to get better because we haven’t played a great game yet.”
Plekanec was put out for the final shift of the third period, with goalie Carey Price pulled for an extra attacker, because coach Claude Julien felt it was important to get the puck right away. Plekanec had a 63 per cent win rate on faceoffs in the game.
The veteran ended up redirecting a Radulov feed past Henrik Lundqvist to send the Bell Centre crowd of 21,288 into a frenzy.
Then Radulov, with his third point of the night, jammed the puck under Lundqvist from the edge of the crease in OT.
For a team that couldn’t buy a goal in a 2-0 loss in the series opener, finally getting some offence was huge.
“I sat here and had to answer questions I felt we didn’t deserve [after Game 1] and it gave us a little chip on our shoulder,” said captain Max Pacioretty. “Obviously, we didn’t want to go down 2-0 going on the road, but every shift you have a chance to make a difference in a game and everyone had that same mindset.
“The coach came in here after two and after three and just said the right things to everybody. It was such a good feeling to see everyone stop what they were doing and be completely still and listen to what the coach had to say. Everyone just bought in so well and it showed in our game and our resilience.”
Jeff Petry and Paul Byron also scored for the Canadiens, who outshot New York 45-30 in regulation time and 58-38 overall.
The Rangers looked to be protecting their lead in the third period, when they were outshot 18-9, and gave up most of the scoring chances in OT, including a Shea Weber shot that clanged off a goalpost.
“It was a good game,” said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. “Both teams battled hard and got some looks. Both teams’ goalies made some good saves.”
Asked if losing the lead and the game may affect his team, Vigneault said: “When the puck drops on Sunday, we won’t remember that.”
Michael Grabner, Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash scored for the Rangers.
Plekanec’s tally was the latest playoff game-tying goal in Canadiens history, beating a Jacques Lemaire goal in 1975 with 24 seconds remaining.
Blues 2, Wild 1
ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Jaden Schwartz scored with 2:27 remaining during a 4-on-4 situation and the St. Louis Blues beat the Wild 2-1 to leave Minnesota with a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.
Joel Edmundson had the first goal for the Blues after winning Game 1 in overtime. Jake Allen was as steady as ever in the net again with 23 saves.
Zach Parise scored again for the Wild, on a 5-on-3 late in the second period, but goalie Devan Dubnyk simply hasn’t been as dominant as Allen at the other end. Screened by David Perron, Dubnyk didn’t track Schwartz’s deep shot from the slot. He made 20 saves.
Game 3 is in St. Louis on Sunday.
Oilers 2, Sharks 0
EDMONTON — Connor McDavid and Zack Kassian took advantage of a sputtering San Jose Sharks power play to score two shorthanded goals in the Edmonton Oilers’ 2-0 win.
The victory evens the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series at one game apiece. Game 3 goes Sunday night in San Jose.
Kassian scored early in the second period and McDavid notched the insurance goal midway through the third period.
It was a dominant performance by the Oilers and particularly by Kassian, a fourth-line winger. Kassian drove the net effectively and delivered bone-jarring hits on Brenden Dillon and Logan Couture at Rogers Place.