In New York Tuesday night, Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves, some of his best efforts after the Bew York Rangers took a 2-1 lead, to help the Rangers tie their series with the Montreal Canadiens, 2-2.
Lundqvist was brilliant at times and lucky at others, as all goalies are some point in a
game.
Shea Weber’s late-game blast from the left point clanged off the iron instead of tying the game, 2-2.
“When we play to our strengths, it gives us a chance to win. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen every time, but we’ve got to give ourselves a chance. By doing that, playing with pace and playing in their face, that’s going to give us a chance,” New York’s Ryan McDonagh said.
Rick Nash struck for a goal early in the middle frame to give the Rangers the 2-1 lead they would not relinquish the rest of the match.
“It was our best home game [of the series], for sure,” Nash said. “It was a tough couple of days after Game 3 (a 3-1 loss on Sunday), and we knew we needed to come with a good effort. I still think the third period could be a bit better, we could create more. But you’ve got to give them a little credit too. They came hard.”
Brady Skjei gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the opening period when he used his speed to react quickly to loose puck behind the Habs goal line to streak to the net and beat Carey Price for a goal.
“We knew we had to respond as a group, and that’s what this group did tonight and has proved that in the past. I thought we talked about managing the puck better, I thought we managed the puck better tonight,” Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said. ” We had a better game. We were able to give ourselves an opportunity; it’s a two out of three, and that’s what we wanted.”
Torrey Mitchell scored for the Habs when he knotted the game at 1-1 in the first period.
“I think we just forced passes tonight,” Montreal head coach Claude Julien said. “We weren’t as good tonight as we were [Sunday] night. I thought that we were forcing things more than just managing the puck better, and that resulted in a lot of icings. Same thing on the faceoffs; we had a lot of draws on our own hand, so we needed to manage the puck better tonight.”
[WATCH: All Rangers vs. Canadiens highlights | RELATED: Complete New York vs. Montreal series coverage]
Carey Price made 30 saves in taking the loss.
“They were desperate tonight,” Price said. “They executed a pretty good game plan. You have to give that team credit; they played well tonight.”

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