ice hockey
1st Canadian playoff win since ’15
MONTREAL, April 15, (AP): Alexander Radulov scored at 18:34 of overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Friday night in Game 2 of their NHL first-round playoff series.
Radulov jammed the puck in from the edge of the crease after a feed from Max Pacioretty to tie the best-of-seven series 1-1. The victory was the first for a Canadian team in the playoffs since 2015. Game 3 is Sunday night in New York. Trailing 3-2 in the third period, the Canadiens pressed hard and finally scored with 18 seconds left, with goalie Carey Price pulled for an extra attacker. Tomas Plekanec redirected Radulov’s feed past goalie Henrik Lundqvist to force overtime. The goal was the latest tying playoff goal in Canadiens history, beating Jacques Lemaire’s goal in 1975 with 24 seconds remaining.
Jeff Petry and Paul Byron also scored for Montreal, which wasted early leads of 1-0 and 2-1. Michael Grabner, Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash scored for New York.
ICE HOCKEY
In Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists, Marc-Andre Fleury stayed sharp in his second straight playoff start and Pittsburgh pulled away to beat Columbus in Game 2.
Jake Guentzel added a goal and an assist to help the defending Stanley Cup champions take a 2-0 lead in the best-ofseven series. Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal of the postseason, 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.
In St Paul, Minnesota, Jaden Schwartz scored with 2:27 remaining during a 4-on-4 situation and St. Louis beat Minnesota to take a 2-0 series lead.
Joel Edmundson had the first goal for the Blues after winning Game 1 in overtime, Jake Allen made 23 saves, and coach Mike Yeo devised another shrewd plan against his former team.
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 Sunday in St Louis.
In Edmonton, Alberta, Connor McDavid and Zack Kassian scored shorthanded goals to help the Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks, levelling their first-round series at one game apiece.
Cam Talbot stopped all 16 shots he faced for his first career playoff shutout and Edmonton’s first postseason win since 2006. The Oilers missed the playoffs in each of the last 10 years.