After dropping the first two games on home ice to the New York Rangers, the Montreal Canadiens are heading into Game 3 trailing the best-of-7 series 2-0. The Rangers will be looking to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series while the Canadiens are looking to get themselves back into the series.
While it takes four games to win a series, Game 3 will ultimately decide this series one way or another. The Canadiens are in a position where tonight’s game is a must-win game if they want any good chance to win this series and advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1993. Sure, it’s bad for any team to go down 3-0 in a series, but it will be especially bad for the Canadiens if they fall into that hole. It’s not impossible to come back from a 3-0 series deficit, not to mention it happened in the first round of this year’s playoffs with the LA Kings, but the Canadiens were simply outplayed in the first two games of the series.
The bottom line is if the Canadiens want to win this series, it starts with a win in Game 3 tonight.
As for the New York Rangers, they can book their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994 if they can hold serve at home in these next two games. The Rangers were the hungrier team in Games 1 and 2, and now have all kinds of momentum heading back to Madison Square Garden.
Call it a case of a team getting hot at the right time, but ever since coming back from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Rangers have been one of the best teams remaining in the playoffs. At this point, it’s the Rangers series to lose. They have the momentum and they have the home ice advantage.
Whether the Rangers will continue to ride the wave of momentum to the Stanley Cup Finals remains to be seen, but they can certainly make a big statement tonight with another win in Game 3 tonight.
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