NEW YORK _ The smallest player on the ice came up huge and the resilient Rangers are going to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Mats Zuccarello, who led the team with 59 points during the season, scored twice in the second period on Saturday _ one on the struggling power-play _ to rally the Rangers to a 3-1 victory in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden and eliminated the Montreal Canadiens from the postseason.
It was the third straight win for the Blueshirts, who will next face either the Ottawa Senators or the Boston Bruins. The Senators lead the series 3-2 with Game 6 on Sunday afternoon in Boston.
The Rangers had to protect a 2-1 lead in the third period. Chris Kreider's high-sticking penalty at 9:07 raised the tension level in the stands, but the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves), who was very sharp, killed off the penalty. With 1:30 left, Lundqvist kicked out Tomas Plekanec's close-in shot with his left pad, and Carey Price was pulled for an extra attacker with 1:17 left.
Derek Stepan's lofted 180-foot shot into an empty net sealed the win.
Zuccarello, whose three goals were the most of any player in the tightly-contested series, skated on a line with Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller, who played their best game of the series as well.
After Zuccarello's two second-period goals, the Rangers entered the third with a 2-1 lead.
Trailing 1-0 after the first, defenseman Jordie Benn pulled down Pavel Buchnevich to give the Rangers their first power play at 1:30 of the second, and Zuccarello snapped the Blueshirts' 0-for-14 skid with his second goal of the series. Mika Zibanejad's cross-ice pass found Zuccarello, and with Price sliding to the opposite post, the winger's shot from the right circle eluded him at 2:26.
The goal seemed to enliven the Rangers who led in shots 10-4 with seven minutes left in the period. After a terrific cycle in the Habs zone by Hayes and Miller, Hayes spun near the left circle and threw a pass to Zuccarello in front that he buried for his second of the game and third of the series at 13:31 and a one-goal lead.
Behind Price's net, Miller's stick clipped Brandon Davidson's helmet to give the Habs the man-advantage with 3:37 left. Fast dived to block Shea Weber's shot and Lundqvist stopped the first shot as the Rangers killed the first minute and with 15 seconds left, Lundqvist stabbed a rising shot with his glove to end the threat and before the period ended made two more stops, triggering a "Hen-reek" cheer as the teams left the ice.
Players predicted the Canadiens, facing elimination, would come out of the gates hard, and in the first period, the Habs indeed showed the desperation.
After a charged-up MSG crowd loudly sang the national anthem along with Daniel Rodriguez, the battles began. At 4:51 when Lundqvist gloved a soft dump-in, Alexander Radulov braked at the crease and gave him a snow shower. McDonagh immediately took exception, shoving him away. The officials kept them apart, but at the blue line, Max Pacioretty had cross-checked Jimmy Vesey, and the two had a short bout. Each received five minutes for fighting and a minor penalty.
The forechecking Canadiens continued to dump pucks into corners and retrieve them, and after Hayes' tip went wide of Price, defenseman Alexei Emelin's wrister from the left circle went through traffic in front and sailed over Lundqvist's glove for a 1-0 lead at 6:19. The team scoring first had won four of the five previous games.
With the shots were 5-1 in favor of Montreal, Stepan was whistled for holding Alex Galchenyuk at 8:46. Lundqvist stopped a sixth shot and the Blueshirts killed the man advantage. With six minutes left, the shots were 8-2, as the Blueshirts failed to get enough pucks on Price. But they had four more before the end of the period. McDonagh's wrister from the left circle was deflected by Price's blocker with just over four minutes left. In the final minutes, Kreider's backhander was denied by Price, who then kicked away a redirect by Nash.
Lundqvist had put the Rangers ahead in the series with 31 saves in a 2-0 win in Game 1 at Bell Centre. The Blueshirts were leading in Game 2 before Tomas Plekanec scored with 17.3 seconds left in regulation and Radulov won it in overtime. Back in New York, the Canadiens beat a strangely lethargic, disjointed Rangers squad, 3-1, to take a 2-1 lead in the series. In Game 4, the Blueshirts rebounded for a 2-1 win, and backed that up with the tense and thrilling 3-2 win, thanks to Mika Zibanejad's goal at 14:22 of overtime in Game 5 in Montreal.
