New York Rangers Defeat the Montreal Canadiens in 6 Games to Advance to Conference Semi-Final

By Djack

After game 3, I'd say just about every and anybody who watched the first three games of this series wrote the Rangers off after game three. Canadiens looked bigger, faster, stronger, and the Rangers just looked outmatched. Game 4 rolled around the Rangers gave their home crowd a gutsy performance and they pulled out a tight win against Montreal to tie up the series. At this point it still seemed like the Canadiens were the better team since they had dominated the Rangers for the majority of the series despite it being tied. Game 5 was when that all changed. The game was neck and neck going into overtime. The overtime period would not be neck and neck though, it'd be the Rangers controlling the game for 14 minutes before winning. The Rangers now had a 3-2 lead in the series coming home for game 6 at the Garden with a chance to advance to the conference semi-finals.

Game 6 at the Garden was rocking last night, those fans were begging for something to cheer about, and the Rangers would deliver. The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead early, it was hard not to immediately think "here we go again", although it was so early into a long game. The first period came and went, the Canadiens held on to their 1-0 lead ad the Rangers struggled to find any sort of offense. That would change in the second period when the Rangers were on the power play. Mats Zuccarello, received the puck not even 10 feet from the net and he sneaks it past Carey Price for a goal that is usually stuffed by a goalie of Price's caliber. The first goal the Rangers had scored on a power play in 15 tries in this series. The game was now tied at one goal at piece and momentum was rolling with the Rangers. About ten minutes later the Rangers were having great puck movement in the Canadiens zone, Kevin Hayes, who had an outstanding game, dished the puck from behind the net to J.T. Miller who then passed the puck across the front of the net to Mats Zuccarello, who buried the puck in  the back of the net for his second goal of the night. Rangers take the lead 2-1 and need to last 20 minutes to advance to the next round.

Rangers had a few scares in the third period in terms of blowing the lead. When you have Henrik Lundqvist in net it certainly gives you a bit more confidence. This guy made big save after big save last night, on several occasions the Canadiens were right in front of the net putting point blank shots on King Lundqvist and he was denying all of them. The Candiens had a power play in the third after a Kreider high stick and they were getting great looks, the Rangers held strong however, and the were able to survive it without blowing the lead. Price was pulled with about 90 seconds left in the game, Rangers continue to look sharp defensively, Lundqvist continue to be a brick wall in goal, and with 20 seconds left Derek Stepan put the nail in the coffin for the Canadiens when he scored from beyond half court on the open net. Rangers won 3-1 and will advance to conference semi-finals to play the winner of the Boston Bruins-Ottawa Senators series.