Overtime goal lifts Canadiens into tie
Radulov scores as Montreal evens series with Rangers.
Alexander Radulov scored at 18:34 of overtime to give the host Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Friday night in Game 2 of the first-round 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 p e r i o d , t h e C a n a d i e n s 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.
Montreal had a 45-30 shots advantage in regulation and a 58-38 overall edge.
Penguins 4, Blue Jackets 1: Sidney Crosby had a goal and t wo assists, Marc-Andre Fleury stayed sharp in his second straight playoff start and for host Pittsburgh in Game 2 of a 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 postseason, and Patric Hornqvist pushed in an empty-net goal.
Fleury finished with 39 s ave s whil e f i l l i ng i n f or the injured Matt Murray, a n d r e c e i v e d p l e n t y o f help. Pittsburgh blocked 23 shots before they even got to Fleury.
B r a n d o n S a a d s c o r e d for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots.
Game 3 is Sunday night in Columbus.
Fleury’s club-record 102nd playoff appearance looked like his 101st, when he held the Blue Jackets in check during an early push — then waited for NHL’s best offense to find its footing.
Blues 2, Wild 1: Jaden Schwartz scored with 2:27 remaining during a 4-on-4 situation as visiting St. Louis took a 2-0 lead in the firstround 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 and coach Mike Yeo devised another shrewd plan for 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 in St. Louis on Sunday.
Charlie Coyle and Scottie Upshall were sent to the penalty box for dual roughing penalties, triggering the 4-on-4 and increasing the Wild’s night-long frustration with the officiating crew. Coyle was pinned down by Upshall during contact along the boards and lost his helmet in the ensuing scrap after fighting back. Coyle actually sent a puck past Allen in the final flurry, but it came after the horn to punctuate the litany of near-misses for Minnesota.
Late Thursday
Ducks 3, Flames 2: Jakob Silfverberg scored the tiebreaking power-play goal late in the second period, and captain Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist for host Anaheim in Game 1 of the first-round series.
R i c k a r d R a k e l l t i e d i t after a bungled Flames line change, and John Gibson made 30 saves for the Ducks.