Last night’s Stanley Cup action:
By Michael Bennett
Alexander Radulov scored 18:34 into overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win against the New York Rangers in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference First Round series in Montreal last.
Radulov scored on a rebound of Max Pacioretty’s shot from the edge of the crease past Henrik Lundqvist.
The best-of-7 series is tied 1-1. Game 3 is Sunday in New York.
“I’m happy that we won, and we won here in front of our fans and we tied up the series,” Radulov said. “But nothing has happened yet. It’s 1-1 and now we go into their building and it’s going to be hard, but we’ve got to play like we played in the third [period], the last 10 minutes, and overtime. Play smart hockey and play more in their zone than in ours.”
Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal to tie it 3-3 with 18 seconds remaining in the third period and goalie Carey Price pulled for an extra attacker.
“We knew our backs were against the wall,” Pacioretty said. “We knew what the buzz was like after losing one game. You don’t want to go down 2-0.”
Lundqvist set his Stanley Cup Playoff high with 54 saves. His previous high was 49 in a 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on April 20, 2011.
“I think they did a good job of keeping pucks in tonight and that’s where we got hurt,” Lundqvist said. “We had a couple of times to get the puck out and they worked hard to keep them in and that’s where they created their second and third chances. But obviously that’s a tough one to give up that late, but it happens; regroup here and get ready for home ice.”
Jeff Petry and Paul Byron scored in the first period for the Canadiens, who led 1-0 and 2-1. Price made 35 saves.
The Rangers scored twice in the second to take a 3-2 lead despite being outshot 18-12 during the period.
Rick Nash tied it 2-2 at 9:58. He took a pass from Jimmy Vesey and put a wrist shot past Price into the top right corner. Mats Zuccarello redirected Brendan Smith’s pass at the right edge of the crease at 14:47 to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.
The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead at 4:05 of the first period when Petry scored on Montreal’s first shot, a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle past Lundqvist, who had dropped his broken stick.
Michael Grabner tied it 1-1 when he took advantage of a turnover by Montreal defenseman Nathan Beaulieuand skated in alone on Price to score an unassisted goal on a breakaway at 13:48.
Byron put the Canadiens up 2-1 at 15:42 when he scored from the slot after taking Brendan Gallagher’s backhand pass from behind the net.
“[Lundqvist] gave us a chance and we’re going to take a couple of hours to feel sorry for ourselves and then we’re going to get right back at it,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “That’s the way playoff hockey is.”
