Canadiens enjoy late surge to topple Rangers
MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens rallied from a third-period deficit to beat the New York Rangers 5-4 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
Alex Galchenyuk, Brian Flynn, Alexei Emelin, Max Pacioretty and Paul Byron scored for Montreal (27-11-6).
Brandon Pirri, Rick Nash, J.T. Miller and Derek Stepan scored for the Rangers (28-15-1).
Carey Price turned aside 29 shots for the Canadiens. Antti Raanta stopped 10 shots before leaving the game after the first period with a lower-body injury. Henrik Lundqvist made 17 saves in relief, and is now 4-8-2 lifetime at the Bell Centre - including 0-6-1 in his last seven.
The Canadiens thought they opened the scoring early in the first when Phillip Danault lifted the puck into the net but the Rangers challenged, and the call was overturned.
New York's strong road power play provided the visitors with the lead at 12:24 of the first period. Stepan won the draw back to defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who faked a shot before dishing off to Pirri at the top of the right circle.
Galchenyuk's 10th of the season tied it at 3:08 of the second. Mark Barberio fired a shot from the point and Galchenyuk, alone and uncovered in the slot, tipped it past Lundqvist on the first shot the netminder faced.
Nash put the Rangers in front again just over three minutes later. Kevin Hayes skated in on a partial break and Price made the save but was pulled out of position when Hayes' skate got caught in his pad, and Nash pushed the loose puck into the net.
The Canadiens challenged for goaltender interference but the call stood.
Miller made it 3-2 with the Rangers' sixth short-handed goal of the season. After Galchenyuk lost the puck at the blue line, Hayes drove down the left side before feeding Miller at 11:07.
The first half of the third period went by without much spark, until Emelin evened the score at 10:53 with a point shot that went through traffic to beat Lundqvist. That set the crowd into a frenzy and the Canadiens on a flurry.
Pacioretty gave Montreal its first lead of the night 36 seconds later when he beat McDonagh to the puck split the Rangers' defense before wristing one five-hole. Then, 26 seconds after that, Byron added to the frenzy with his 13th of the season.
Stepan brought New York to within one at 14:53, which was quickly reviewed for a high stick before the call on the ice stood.
NOTES: Canadiens C Alex Galchenyuk (knee) and RW Andrew Shaw (concussion) returned to the lineup after missing time with injury. ... Montreal D Andrei Markov remained sidelined with a groin injury while LW Chris Terry, who was placed on waivers earlier in the day, LW Daniel Carr and D Ryan Johnston were scratched. ... New York scratched LW Marek Hrivik while LW Matt Puempel (concussion symptoms) and D Marc Staal (upper body) missed their fifth and fourth consecutive games, respectively. ... The game, the first of three meetings between the clubs, was the Rangers' lone visit to Montreal this season.