Canadiens at Rangers
Seconds away from taking a commanding lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series, the New York Rangers must shake off a crushing overtime loss when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night in Game 3. Montreal scored the tying goal with 17.3 seconds before prevailing in the extra session to level the best-of-seven series.
Even though the Canadiens lost home-ice advantage by dropping the series opener 2-0, the dramatic tying tally by Tomas Plekanec and game-winner by Alexander Radulov breathed life into their locker room. "Every time you win you kind of change the momentum," Plekanec said. "You feel better about yourself and your game. But it's just one game. We have to get better because we haven't played a great game yet." Conversely, the setback had a deflating effect on the Rangers, who amassed a league-best 27 road wins but own the fewest points at home (46) of any of the 16 teams in the postseason. “Of course it stings. It stings a lot,” New York captain Ryan McDonagh said. “We were 17 seconds away from a two-nothing series lead, but that’s playoff hockey. We have to learn from it. ... It’s the first to four (wins).”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TVAS, Sportsnet (Montreal), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE RANGERS: Friday's morale-sapping defeat aside, a bright spot for New York in the series has been the offensive re-emergence of Michael Grabner, who scored into an empty net in the opener before converting on a breakaway in Game 2, beating Carey Price with a spectacular move. Grabner finished second on the team with 27 goals -- the second-highest total of his career -- due to a late-season season in which he tallied once in the final 23 games. It's a continution of postseason success for Grabner, who has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his last eight playoff games.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS: Plekanec is coming off a 10-goal season, the least productive campaign since he scored nine as a rookie with Montreal in 2005-06. Yet with the Canadiens in desperation mode and the clock ticking down, coach Claude Julien had Plekanec on the ice and the 34-year-old veteran responded by redirecting a beautiful feed from Radulov to send the game into overtime. While noting Plekanec's defensive skills, Julien defended the move by saying, "So that doesn't mean that at the end he can't be a good offensive player, and that's why we put him out there."
OVERTIME
1. Wednesday's setback was Price's first loss to New York since Game 1 of their playoff series two years ago, when he was injured.
2. New York is 18-for-19 on the penalty kill in the past four games, including 7-for-7 in the series.
3. Radulov notched his first three-point game and first OT goal in the postseason.