NEW YORK – By way of a Martin St. Louis wrist shot, the New York Rangers are one win from their first Stanley Cup final since 1994.
Sunday night was a tale of two scenarios: For the Canadiens, it was win and tie the series up at two heading back to Montreal and for the Rangers it was win and go up 3-1 in the series with a chance to close out the Canadiens in Game 5.
Unfortunately for the Canadiens, it was the second scenario that ultimately played out.
Things got interesting leading up to Game 4 when Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien and Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault were in a war of words after Canadiens forward Brandon Prust’s hit on Rangers forward Derek Stepan in Game 3 that left Stepan with a broken jaw, coupled with Therrien kicking out Rangers assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson and video coach Jerry Dineen as the scouted the Canadiens practice. Therrien stated that there was a “gentleman’s agreement” while Vigneault called it “uncalled for.”
The fierceness between the teams continued on the ice in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and 7:18 into the opening period, it was the Rangers who struck first. Brian Boyle found a streaking Carl Hagelin who beat Canadiens goaltender Dustin Tokarski on the shorthanded breakaway to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Despite outshooting the Rangers 11-9 in the first period, the Canadiens were unable beat Henrik Lundqvist and the score remained 1-0 Rangers heading into the first intermission.
The Canadiens finally found a way to beat Lundqvist at 8:08 of the second period. Defenseman Francis Bullion snapped a shot past Lundqvist to tie the game at one. The game remained tied for nearly the remainder of the second period until Rangers forward Derick Brassard, who replaced the injured Derek Stepan, blew a shot past Dustin Tokarski to give the Rangers the 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.
Early into the third period with the Canadiens on the power play, defenseman P.K. Subban blasted a shot from the point past Lundqvist to tie the game up at 2. It was Subban’s first goal, and point, of this series and his fifth of the playoffs. It was also the first power play goal the Canadiens, who were previously 0-for-15 on the power play this series as well as the first power play goal given up by the Rangers in the last 28 chances.
The score remained tied after regulation and, for the second consecutive game, there was overtime hockey.
Penalties plagued New York all night, and just 30 seconds into overtime, the Rangers were once again short-handed after Benoit Pouliot was called for holding the stick. It was the last of eight penalties committed by the Rangers in Game 4. However, the Rangers were able to kill off of the penalty. 6:02 into overtime, Carl Hagelin connected with a wide open Martin St. Louis who ripped a shot top shelf past Tokarski to give the Rangers the 3-2 win, as well as a 3-1 series lead.
The two teams will head back to Montreal for Game 5 on Tuesday night at 8 pm on the NBC Sports Network, which will be the first of three chances for the Rangers to close out the series and book their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994. The Canadiens, meanwhile, will look to extend the series to a sixth game back in New York City.
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