Radulov lifts Canadians past Rangers in overtime
The Montreal Canadiens were in serious trouble until Tomas Plekanec gave them new life with a tying goal with 18 seconds left. And when Alexander Radulov scored 18:34 into overtime, it gave a whole new look to their 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 quarterfinal 11 with Game 3 set for Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
“Every time you win you kind of change the momentum,” Plekanec said. “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 percent win rate on faceoffs. The veteran ended up redirecting Radulov’s feed past goal Henrik Lundqvist to send the Bell Centre crowd of 21,288 into a frenzy. The goal was the latest tying playoff goal in Canadiens history, beating Jacques Lemaire’s goal in 1975 with 24 seconds remaining. 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 offense was huge. “I sat here and had to answer questions I felt we didn’t deserve (after Game 1) and it gave is a little chip on our shoulder,” captain Max Pacioretty said. “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. They outshot New York 45-30 in regulation time and 5838 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 Shea Weber’s shot that clanged off a goalpost. “It was a good game,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “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 as they fought back from early 1-0 and 2-1 deficits.
PENGUINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1
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-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 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.
BLUES 2, WILD 1
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.
OILERS 2, SHARKS 0
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. Kassian scored early in the second period and McDavid doubled the lead midway through the third period. It was a dominant performance by the Oilers and particularly by Kassian, a fourth-line winger who drove the net effectively and delivered bone-jarring hits on the Sharks’ Brenden Dillon and Logan Couture. By the end of the second period, the Rogers Place fans were chanting “Kass-ee-ann! Kass-ee-ann!” It was a reversal of Game 1, when the Oilers were outshot 44-19 en route to a 3-2 overtime loss.