In Montreal, Filip Chytil scored twice on Thursday night, and the New York Rangers hit for three goal in the middle frame in a 4-1 win over the Canadiens.
The Rangers were coming off a 5-3 win over Carolina Hurricanes.
“Sometimes it’s hard to go from the top team to the other side, but [Montreal] played great today,” Chytil said. “They played hard, and the two points were earned.”
Jaroslav Halak made 17 saves in the Rangers win.
“I think for the most part we played a pretty good game,” Halak said. “The last five minutes, we knew they were going to kind of push and they got one goal. But the guys kind of stood their ground after that and we got another one. So, it’s a nice win for us and a good two points in the standings because I’m pretty sure it’s going to be tight until the end of the season.”
Chris Kreider‘s shorthanded, unassisted goal in the second period put the Rangers up, 1-0.
“The first period, there wasn’t a lot going on,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “But Montreal came out there and had a really good period and they shut us down a lot and we couldn’t get going. There weren’t many shots in the first, but I thought in the second we started to get pucks to the net and things started to go our way a little bit.”
New York improved to 22-12-6.
Braden Schneider put the Rangers ahead 2-0 off a shot froth the right point.
Chytil then scored off a quick shot from the left circle for the 3-0 lead after two periods.
Montreal dropped to 15-21-3.
“We don’t have a ton of confidence right now, and when you let you one up or two [goals] up, it’s strained,” Canadiens forward Jake Evans said. “But in the third [period], compared to the last few games, I thought we did a great job and we were taking it to them, and who knows, one more bounce and it’s a completely different game.”
Joel Armia was the lone striker for the Habs, his goal came in the third to cut the New York lead to 3-1.
“I know I haven’t been performing at my best and I’ve been trying to fix it,” Armia said.
Chytil added an empty net goal on the power play for the 4-1 final
Jake Allen made 27 saves in the loss.
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