There have been a few surprises in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs but one of the biggest happened Saturday night when the New York Rangers won their third straight game to come back from a 2-1 deficit to eliminate the Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
The surprise is because the Rangers displayed an almost emotionless effort in Game 3 at home that saw them lose 3-1 and only score a so-what goal late. Since that loss, the Rangers clamped down on the defense and started to show their speed and passing abilities and both of those assets were on display in Game 6 as they sent the Habs to the off season with a 3-1 win.
“It’s three pretty good games in a row. But we still had a tough Game 3 (a 3-1 loss) and some spurts where we weren’t our best. But we beat a very good team and a very fast team with one of the best goalies in the world. It’s a good job by us,” the Rangers’ Rick Nash said.
Mats Zuccarello struck twice for the Rangers in the middle frame, both times off nifty passes, to erase a 1-0 deficit and give New York all the offense they needed.
Henrik Lundqvist gave up an early goal but made 27 saves to collect the win and backstop Zuccarello’s goals.
“It was a good-fought series there, a tough one,” Zuccarello said. “Montreal played great, a tough team to play against. They made it hard for us, but we have a tough team in here. [Lundqvist] is unbelievable and we stick together. Our [defensemen], they play unbelievable. They block shots, they stand up every hit, and it’s amazing to have those guys behind us. The way that [Dan Girardi], [Ryan McDonagh], [Marc Staal] and those guys step up and take a hit, make a play and block some shots, it’s inspiring for us forwards.”
Alexei Emelin had the Habs lone goal in the loss.
“It was a close series, so the undoing is probably the fact that it ended up that they scored more goals than us because they were all one-goal games in all of the wins,” Montreal head coach Claude Julien said. “We tried everything we could to score and we face a goaltender that is probably, without a doubt, their best player, and we couldn’t manage to get those goals.
“It wasn’t from lack of trying. We looked at our scoring chances and we looked at it after games and we probably had more than the other team, but they made the most out of theirs. The undoing was the fact that we probably needed a little luck to go with our efforts, and those two combined sometimes gives you the breaks that you’re looking for. It was a tough series, but it was a series where I really thought our players worked hard and competed as hard as they could.”
Zuccarello scored on the power play, the Rangers’ first of this series, to tie the game, 1-1.
“It was a good play,” Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said. “We had come close and got their goalie there cheating a little bit and we were able to put that one in. Obviously that gave us some momentum.”
Derek Stepan scored an empty net goal from seemingly down near 71st and Riverside when he lofted a clearing attempt out of the zone and found the back of the net with under 30 seconds left on the clock.
Carey Price made 20 saves in taking the loss.
For Montreal, it is an earlier exit than expected. With Julien coming after the firing of Michele Therrien, the Canadiens were better but appreciably improved. Julien got the club more focused. The Rangers exposed some weaknesses in the Habs’ lineup that will need to be fixed.
“I said it before the playoffs started, I felt like this was our best chance that we’ve had. I like this team so much, I like what we brought up on the lineup. We just didn’t get the job done. It’s disappointing obviously, but take it for what it is — a learning experience — and hopefully we will get another opportunity at it,” Brendan Gallagher said after the season-ending loss.
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