MONTREAL _ The Rangers, who were ousted from the playoffs by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round last spring, are suddenly on the brink of advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Mika Zibanejad beat Carey Price at 14:22 of overtime to give the Rangers a 3-2 win in Game 5 at Bell Centre and a 3-2 lead in the best of seven first-round series.
It was the second overtime game in this series; the Canadiens won Game 2 in Montreal on Alexander Radulov's goal. But it was the second road win for the Blueshirts.
Game 6 is at Madison Square Garden on Saturday at 8 p.m. A Game 7 would be back in Montreal on Monday.
From the outset, it was clear these were not the same Habs who lost in New York in Game 4. The effort was admirable, if chippy, as hitting and swinging sticks flourished after the whistle, often without being penalized.
With the Rangers coming back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits on goals by Jesper Fast and Brady Skjei, there were close calls throughout the third period. Henrik Lundqvist kept the Rangers in the game with 34 saves. In the four previous games, the team that scored first won.
Brendan Gallagher went off just 16 seconds into the third period for slashing, and Phillip Danault, on a 2 on 1, hit the left post at the 32 second mark, and the Rangers were 0-for-14 in the series with the man advantage.
Chris Kreider, pointless all series, before assisting on the game-winner, sped down the right wing but Price was there. With 8:55 left in regulation, Price stopped McDonagh's high shot from the left circle. With just over 7 minutes to play, Max Pacioretty missed the net on a breakaway. And with 5:47 left in regulation, J.T. Miller was sent off for slashing, but the Rangers killed it off and for the second time in the series, the teams went to overtime.
Trailing 2-1, the Rangers lost some traction early in the second period. Ryan McDonagh slashed Dwight King cutting to the net for a bounce off the end boards at 1:26 and Mats Zuccarello was off to the box after catching Paul Byron with high-stick at 3:30. They dodged those bullets, but had just two shots on Price with 7:45 to play. Oscar Lindberg went to the locker room after taking a blow to the face from Shaw while not near the puck, and no call.
Derek Stepan's turnaround off a loose puck was deflected away by Price's blocker with just over two minutes to play. But with Rick Nash and Jimmy Vesey causing some chaos down low, Skjei's wrister beat Price from about 12 feet with 1:32 to play to pull the Blueshirts into a tie for the second time in the evening.
In the first period, a huge momentum swing came with the score tied at 1.
With the struggling Kevin Hayes in the box for a questionable holding-the-stick infraction and the Canadiens on a power play, Zibanejad fed Fast racing down the middle toward Price, and the winger scored his second goal of the series with Nathan Beaulieu pulling him down at 15:56.
But just 24 seconds later, Gallagher, who earlier had sticked McDonagh in the face after the whistle while the Canadiens forward was on the seat of his pants, without a penalty, beat Lundqvist over his glove on the power play from 25 feet to restore the lead.
Back in the first minute of play, Price got a pad on Zuccarello's open shot in front while trying to convert a tic-tac-toe play on an odd man rush, denying a goal that would have quieted the crowd. The hitting was hard and borderline legal, as referees Gord Dwyer and Marc Joannette let plays continue. Below the goal line, McDonagh was rattled from a check from behind by Pacioretty that jammed him into Radulov, and the Rangers captain was dazed going to the bench.
With Andrew Shaw and the Canadiens whacking away at Lundqvist while covering pucks, Brendan Smith had enough and dropped the gloves with Shaw at 10:36.
Artturi Lehkonen's wraparound at the right post after Marc Staal's turnover gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 12:07. By the time the horn sounded, with Nash and Shea Weber jostling in front of Price, the Canadiens led in shots 15-10.
