NY Rangers @ Montreal 7-2 - Rangers Lead Series 1-0
Nobody could have seen this coming, not with the
recent history between the teams, the elite goalies in the nets, and
the 21,273 people in the stands going bonkers. Bell Centre was the
Rangers' house of horrors entering Game 1 of the Eastern Conference
Final on Saturday, but they wiped away any nightmarish thoughts they
might have had with a 7-2 win against the Canadiens on Saturday. It's the first game in the past six
between the Rangers and Canadiens that did not end with a shutout;
New York had been shut out in five of its past seven games here. The
nine goals scored are five more than the combined total from the
three regular-season games this season. Henrik
Lundqvist, who hadn't won in Montreal in more than five years,
made 20 saves, and seven Rangers scored, including Rick
Nash, who snapped his career-long goal drought at 15 games. Ryan
McDonagh tied a Rangers record for most points in a Stanley Cup
Playoff game by a defenseman (four; a goal and three assists). It was
the first time the Rangers scored seven goals in a playoff game since
April 17, 2007, when they defeated the Atlanta Thrashers 7-0. New
York scored two goals in the first 6:27, two in the final 61 seconds
of the second period, and three power-play goals in the first 4:36 of
the third. Three times they scored twice in less than two minutes.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Monday at Bell Centre (8 p.m. ET;
NBCSN, CBC, RDS). Montreal goalie Carey
Price did not play the third period after giving up four goals on
20 shots. Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said he replaced Price with
Peter Budaj
to "protect him." There was concern early in the
second period that Price was injured when Rangers forward Chris
Kreider lost his balance and went barreling into the goalie's
right knee with his skates ahead of him. Therrien said he thought the
play was "accidental, honestly," and Kreider said he
"just had too much momentum and couldn't really avoid him. It
didn't feel too good for me either." Price stayed in the
game after getting some attention from the trainer, but he allowed
goals to Kreider off the rush and Brad
Richards from the goal line on the left side late in the period
as the Rangers extended their lead to 4-1. Canadiens forward
Rene Bourque
made it 2-1 at 12:38 of the second. Lars
Eller scored a shorthanded goal for Montreal with 4:38 to go in
the third. Lundqvist's personal struggles at Bell Centre were a major
storyline heading into the series, and he won in the building for the
first time since March 17, 2009. He hadn't played here since Jan. 15,
2012, and he was 0-3-1 with a 4.63 GAA and .862 save percentage in
his previous four appearances in Montreal. The Rangers hadn't scored
more than one goal in a game at Bell Centre since Jan. 15, 2011, when
they lost 3-2. Nash's power-play goal at 4:36 of the third period
gave the Rangers a 7-1 lead. It might have been a meaningless goal in
the game, but it wasn't to Nash, who hadn't scored since April 10,
the Rangers' second-to-last game of the regular season. McDonagh will
be linked in the Rangers' record book with former captains Brian
Leetch, Brad Park and Dave Maloney as the defensemen to have four
points in a playoff game. Leetch was the most recent to do it, on
June 7, 1994 against the Vancouver Canucks, the last time the Rangers
played in the Stanley Cup Final. Martin
St. Louis gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead 4:35 with a one-timer off a
backhand pass through the slot by Dominic
Moore. Moore also made a backhand pass to get an assist on
Zuccarello's goal that put New York up 2-0 1:52 after St. Louis
scored. Moore played extended minutes (16:36 on 26 shifts) because
the Rangers were short a center after Derick
Brassard left the game with an apparent upper-body injury after
taking a hard, open-ice hit from Montreal defenseman Mike
Weaver early in the first period. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault
said Brassard is day-to-day.
Marc Staal: "Yeah, I'd say surprised.
We're not surprised in the way we played. We had a great start to the
game, set the tempo right from the beginning, and were able to
convert on a couple, which is big in a road rink, especially here. We
were able to carry that through."
Therrien:
"We were not sharp in front of him. You never want to lose a
game, but it's going to bring us back to earth. We, as a group, have
to be ready to compete and play every night if we want to have a
chance to win. So we put that game behind us, we've got to move
forward, but that's a good lesson."
Lundqvist: "You guys [the media] like to
talk about it, you like to ask me about it; I haven't played here in
a while, but it's still the same game. Last time I played here, we
had a different team, and I think I've grown as a goalie as well. But
every time you play the game you have to show yourself and your
teammates that you can play. So, yeah, we got a great start here and
a good win, but it's about doing it again in the next one."
Nash: "It was nice to get that one"
McDonagh: "It could have been anyone
[Saturday] the way we were really moving the puck and seeing plays
happen"
Vigneault: "He did an unbelievable job"
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