Rangers win to advance

New York upends favored Montreal

Mats Zuccarello scored twice in the second period and the host New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in Game 6 on Saturday night to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Derek Stepan also scored and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots to help New York get past the first round for the fifth time in six years.

The Rangers won three in a row after falling behind 21 and beat Montreal for the ninth time in 16 postseason series.

The Rangers will face the winner of the Ottawa-Boston series, which the Senators lead 3-2.

Alexei Emelin scored for Montreal and Carey Price finished with 20 saves.

The Canadiens, winners of the Atlantic Division after missing the playoffs last year, were bounced from the postseason by the Rangers for the second time in four years. In 2014, it was in the conference finals.

Zuccarello put the Rangers ahead with his second of the game and third of the postseason with 6:29 left in the middle period.

The Canadiens pressed for the tying goal in the third, pulling Price for an extra skater with about 2 minutes to go, but Lundqvist stopped all of their eight shots in the period.

Stepan added an emptynetter with 17.8 seconds remaining.

Montreal finished 0 for 3 on the power play, while New York converted its lone chance.

Other game

Blues 4, Wild 3: Magnus Paajarvi scored at the 9:42 mark in overtime, giving visiting St. Louis a victory in Game 5 of its playoff series to eliminate Minnesota. The Blues play Nashville in the second round.