Radulov Lights Lamp In OT, Lifts Canadiens Past Rangers In Game 2
MONTREAL (AP) — Alexander Radulov scored at 18:34 of overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Friday night in Game 2 of the first-round series.
Radulov jammed the puck in from the edge of the crease after a feed from Max Pacioretty to tie the best-of-seven series 1-1. The victory was the first for a Canadian team in the playoffs since 2015.
Game 3 is Sunday night in New York.
Trailing 3-2 in the third period, the Canadiens pressed hard and finally scored with 18 seconds left, with goalie Carey Price pulled for an extra attacker. Tomas Plekanec redirected Radulov's feed past goalie Henrik Lundqvist to force overtime. The goal was the latest tying playoff goal in Canadiens history, beating Jacques Lemaire's goal in 1975 with 24 seconds remaining.
Jeff Petry and Paul Byron also scored for Montreal, which wasted early leads of 1-0 and 2-1. Michael Grabner, Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash scored for New York.
Montreal had a 45-30 shots advantage in regulation and a 58-38 overall edge.
While goals were scarce in New York's 2-0 victory in Game 1, there were three in the first period alone Friday.
Only 4:05 in, Lundqvist broke his stick and was helpless as Petry set up in the right circle and scored to the stick side.
Lundqvist answered by stopping Byron on a breakaway, and then Nathan Beaulieu lost the puck at the Rangers' blue line, allowing Grabner to go in alone and deke Price and score with the backhand at 13:48.
Byron scored at 15:42 when Chris Kreider lost the puck to Brendan Gallagher, who followed in after his shot was stopped to feed it in front.
A melee broke out when Steve Ott flattened Zuccarello and it was the Rangers who seemed to get a lift from it as they tied it 9:58 into the second. With Montreal on a slow line change, Jimmy Vesey took a pass at the blue line and sent Nash in alone for a perfect shot in off the far post.
New York went ahead at 14:47 when Brendan Smith banked in a shot off Zuccarello from the left point.
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