A Winning Habit
Fansided

Montreal Canadiens: Looking Back On Their Most Recent Playoff Series

By Ken MacMillan

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Mats Zuccarello #36 of the New York Rangers scores a goal against Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period in Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 22, 2017 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Canadiens 3-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Mats Zuccarello #36 of the New York Rangers scores a goal against Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period in Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 22, 2017 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Canadiens 3-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Game 2

The Habs finally solved Lundqvist early in Game 2, when Jeff Petry was given all kinds of time in the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot blocker side that went off the post and in just 4:05 into the game. The Bell Centre was rocking.

The Rangers tied it with six minutes left to play after Nathan Beaulieu turned the puck over at the blue line to Grabner. We learned in Game 1 not to get into puck races with Grabner, and in Game 2 we learned you definitely don’t want to give him a breakaway from his own blue line. No one could catch him and he pulled a nice backhand deke to tie the game.

The Habs had a speedster of their own and he got loose for a breakaway in the first period, but Paul Byron was stopped by Lundqvist when he deked to the backhand. Just a couple minutes later, Byron got another chance as Gallagher carried the puck into the zone and found Byron in the slot. Byron wristed it over Lundqvist to give the Habs another lead.

The Canadiens carried that lead into the second period and the physicality continued. There was a large scrum early in the period and Shea Weber nearly decapitated JT Miller in a fight behind the Habs goal. More importantly, goals from Rick Nash and Zuccarello gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

The Canadiens absolutely poured on the pressure, wanting to give their fans something to cheer for and looking to avoid a devastating 2-0 series deficit on home ice. They had several great chances to tie the game but were turned aside by Lundqvist again and again.

Finally, in the last minute they pulled Price for an extra attacker. Weber, Markov, Tomas Plekanec, Radulov, Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk were all over the Rangers. A Weber shot was blocked but then he shoved down Grabner who was trying to clear the zone and got the puck to Galchenyuk near the blue line. He sent it down low to Radulov in the corner. Radulov fed a cross-ice pass in front and Plekanec tipped it in to tie the game with 18 seconds left in regulation.

The crowd went absolutely insane, and did so again when Radulov scored the game’s winning goal late in the first overtime period. The Habs, started by Markov with his patience and vision, moved the puck around the Rangers zone before Pacioretty threw it on net. Radulov banged away at the rebound until he knocked it past Lundqvist with the Habs 58th shot of the game to tie the series at one.

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