The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in an overtime thriller on Sunday to move within one victory of a first Stanley Cup appearance in two decades.
Roared on by a boisterous Madison Square Garden crowd, the Rangers gave their long-suffering fans reason to hope that an overdue NHL title could be close when Martin St Louis scored the Game 4 winner six minutes into overtime.
The result gives the Rangers a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals, with the next game in Montreal today.
Photo: AFP
St Louis sealed the win when he combined with Carl Hagelin and Brad Richards to slap the puck past Canadiens goaltender Dustin Tokarski from an acute angle, whipping the Big Apple into a frenzy of excitement after a tense game.
“It was a really competitive game, but we put ourselves behind the eight ball with all those penalties,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told reporters. “It was us. They were killing us and we can’t afford to do that.”
Hagelin had opened the scoring just seven minutes into the first period with a short-handed goal when his teammate Benoit Pouliot was in the penalty box for high sticking.
The Canadiens have struggled with their power plays during the series and their inability to score was compounded when Ryan McDonagh and Brian Boyle got the puck to Hagelin on the breakaway.
The Swedish left-wing skated free then shot through the legs of Tokarski for his sixth goal of the playoffs. Tokarski, called into the starting lineup after Carey Price was ruled out of the series with a knee injury, made 26 saves.
The Canadiens tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second period when Montreal defenseman Francis Bouillon rifled a snap shot past the Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who turned away 27 shots.
“It’s a big relief, an exciting at the same time, to get this win,” Lundqvist said. “We’re not thinking to ourselves we’re one game away. We have to keep the same mindset as every other games because it’s going to be a tough game, but it’s still exciting to know you’re one game away from the finals.”
New York regained the lead when Dan Girardi fed Derick Brassard and the Rangers center buried the puck past Tokarski on the last minute of the second period.
After killing Montreal’s first six power plays, the Rangers’ luck ran out early in the third when defenseman John Boyle was banished to the penalty box for tripping.
The Canadiens’ finally took advantage of the extra man when P.K. Subban’s slap-shot took a deflection past Lundqvist to tie the game at 2-2 two minutes into the final period.
Alex Galchenyuk almost won the game for the Canadiens with three minutes to go in regulation, but his snap shot hit the crossbar off Lundvist’s shoulder, forcing the teams into overtime for the second game in a row.
“We got a few chances,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. “We had a lot of opportunities on the power play, but we couldn’t take advantage of them. We did score one goal, but we also gave one up and I thought that was probably the game.”
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
Taiwan on Wednesday finished with 15 medals at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, taking home four gold, five silver and six bronze medals across the age group divisions. Taiwan ranked third on the medal table after South Korea with 17 golds and the US with eight golds at the five-day competition. “Your athletes have proven themselves as the best in the world,” World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said at the closing ceremony of the martial art contest that was attended by a record 1,727 athletes from around the world. On the first day of the competition at the Hong Kong
RSS