Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers had just enough to knock off the Montreal Canadiens in a playoff-like atmosphere.
- New York Rangers 2 (38-19-1, 77 pts)
- Montreal Canadiens 2 (31-20-8, 70 pts)
- NHL, Final, Box Score
- Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Thanks to this fine mix of talented and disciplined hockey, the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens treated fans to a playoff-like contest in February.
Both all-world goaltenders were phenomenal. Carey Price stopped 28-of-30 shots while befuddling the Rangers offense for most of the night. Henrik Lundqvist — the very same Henrik Lundqvist who still has a legitimate shot at GOAT status — stopped 26-of-28.
Each goalie grew stronger as the game progressed and this was especially the case in overtime, as both goaltenders put on mind-boggling performances. Each was tested with multiple breakaways and odd-man rushes, to no avail for the playmakers and shooters.
During the last minute of the three-on-three OT, the frame ended with a sequence of Lundqvist stopping a breakaway and Price turning back a J.T. Miller wide-open off-wing shot.
It wasn’t until the shootout that one of these teams finally broke through and it was Paul Bryon who beat Hank in the sixth round of the shootout.
Andrew Shaw broke through first, early in the first period with his eighth of the season. Later in the period, the fourth line once again did their thing. Jesper Fast found a hustling Oscar Lindberg for the game-tying goal:
It was Montreal who took another one-goal lead when Shea Weber scored on the power play early in the second. But, once again, the Rangers came back to tie it up thanks to a pretty pass from Ryan McDonagh and a Nashty finish by Rick Nash:
From that moment on, although the play didn’t tighten up, the goaltenders geared up. They simply took over and wouldn’t allow their respective team to fail.
New York takes the point and now turns its attention to the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Thursday night.