RANGERS 2, CANADIENS 1
Series tied 2-2
Rick Nash’s tiebreaking goal early in the second period lifted the New York Rangers to a 2-1 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals Tuesday night. The best-of-seven series is tied at two games apiece. Game 5 is Thursday at Bell Centre in Montreal. Jesper Fast also scored for New York. Fast and Nash’s goals were only New York’s fifth and sixth in the Rangers’ last seven playoff games at Madison Square Garden. The win snapped New York’s six-game losing streak at home in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Rangers last won a home playoff game in Game 1 of the 2015 Eastern Conference final.
Torrey Mitchell found the back of the net for the Canadiens. Carey Price made 30 saves. Henrik Lundqvist finished with 23 saves for the Rangers. Lundqvist’s toughest stops occurred on Brendan Gallagher and Andrew Shaw in the first, and on an Alex Galchenyuk shot in the third where the New York goaltender turned to find the puck alongside the far post. Lundqvist also benefited from some good fortune as Shea Weber’s slapshot with 1:18 left in regulation hit the post. After spending Monday reiterating the importance of playing their brand of hockey, Game 4 was contested at the Rangers’ breakneck pace. New York outshot Montreal 32-24.
Nash broke a 1-1 tie 4:28 into the second period with his second of the playoffs and his 14th in 69 career Stanley Cup playoff games. Nash’s goal was the culmination of a sequence that began with Ryan McDonagh keeping the puck in the offensive zone at the blue-line against a pressuring Max Pacioretty, before firing a pass that the first overall pick in the 2002 draft corralled along the goal-line before stuffing it through Price’s five hole.