St. Louis delivers Rangers to cusp
New York • One of the things about playing in New York is that it can feel a little bit like playing in Los Angeles, Max Pacioretty was saying, deep inside Madison Square Garden on Sunday. The volume of famous people with good seats can be intimidating: “In warmups, I feel like I know half the people in the stands.”
Robert De Niro and Michael J. Fox had tickets to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final last week. And Harry Belafonte, the 87-year-old singer, was in the arena on Sunday night as the Canadiens faced the New York Rangers in Game 4.
“I think it kind of is an intimidating building,” Pacioretty said. “But at the same time, it’s not like Montreal, where they’re going to jump all over you.”
Nothing is like Montreal, especially not in the playoffs, and especially not with the home team within two games of another long-awaited trip to the Stanley Cup finals. Playing in the Bell Centre under those conditions would be intimidating, and difficult, and precisely why the Rangers had to win at home on Sunday.
And so they got what they needed early in the overtime period, when Martin St. Louis walked in from the faceoff circle to beat Dustin Tokarski with a clean shot. New York earned the 3-2 win, and the commanding series lead.
Montreal is still not without hope. Rallying from a 3-1 series deficit is normally not easy, but this has not been a normal post-season for rallies. The Rangers roared back from a 3-1 deficit to oust the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round, and the Los Angeles Kings were down 3-0 to the San Jose Sharks before ripping off four straight wins.
So much of the series has been about managing pressure. The coaches have been batting the burden back and forth like a ping pong ball: Blaming a linesman for a suspension, or each other for real or perceived breaches in etiquette.
Derick Brassard returned from injury and his goal gave New York a 2-1 lead heading into the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie just at the point when it seemed like Tokarski was positioning himself to steal another game for the Canadiens, as he had done in Game 3.
He made a blocker stop with St. Louis on a partial break in the first, and made one of the finest glove saves of the playoffs in the second period. St. Louis looked to the roof after that save, looking first for a replay, and then, possibly, for patience.
Francis Bouillon scored in the second to answer Carl Hagelin’s first-period goal. After Brassard scored, the Canadiens pulled level again in the third period, when P.K. Subban finally connected on the power-play, with a signature slap shot from the point to quiet the crowd and tighten the nerves on the home team’s bench.
Those nerves rattled to the sound of a crossbar with three minutes to play in the third, when Alex Galchenyuk ripped a shot past Henrik Lundqvist. It bounced off the line and away from danger, temporarily.
St. Louis delivered them from danger completely, and to within one game of the Stanley Cup final.