In Montreal, the Canadiens had their match with the New York Rangers well in hand through two periods of play.
They held a 2-1 lad and all was well.
Adam Fox had the game-winner for the Rangers – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
In Fact, the Habs held a 2-0 lead in the game before the Rangers got close in the second on goal from Phillip Di Giuseppe.
Then the third period happened. New York scored four goals in the frame and rallied past the Canadiens for a 5-2 win, their ninth straight road win.
Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves to get the win.
Tomas Tatar and Max Domi had the Canadiens goals.
“I don’t know what else to say, we can’t blow it like that,” Tatar said. “We had 40 great minutes and we were really happy about our hockey game, and then we just dropped it. And I don’t think they played any better. We were worried to close the game, but something’s got to change. We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror and we can’t let it happen.”
Mika Zibanejad got the teams even at 2-2 in the third.
“That first goal was huge,” Rangers head coach David Quinn said. “Getting that goal before the end of the [second], [heck] of a play by Fox and Di Giuseppe, who had a really good night, goes to the net and we get a goal, so I think that goal really kind of ignited us for the third period. And I give a lot of guys who were having tough nights a lot of credit because they turned it on in the third.”
Adam Fox scored what would be the game-winner to give the Rangers their first lead at 3-2.
“I thought we got frustrated because we weren’t getting any chances and weren’t really doing much offensively,” Quinn said. “But there’s a reason for that. When you cheat and you play against a team that can play honest hockey you’re not going to get chances, and I thought we really approached the third period a little bit differently and just a lot of good hockey in the third period.”
Ryan Strome scored twice to close out the run.
“We want to make the playoffs, but at the same time I think we can’t go out there and control what other teams do,” Strome said. “So we’ve got to take care of business like we’ve been doing. I think we’ve come with a pretty good mindset. We’re focused, but we’re also staying pretty light in here as a group. And we just want to make this thing interesting, we want to play meaningful games and we’re making these games count and we’re doing a good job.
“Teams are starting to see us catching them in the standings a little bit and we’re going to play all the teams we’ve got to catch up to, so that’s the important thing.”
[WATCH: All Rangers vs. Canadiens highlights]
Carey Price made 30 saves in the loss.
“I thought we played a very good 40 minutes, then just shelled up in the third, and again that didn’t work for us,” Price said.
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