Rene Bourque scored a hat-trick as the Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Rangers 7-4 in a high-scoring thriller on Tuesday to stay alive in the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Eastern Conference finals.
Needing to win to avoid elimination in the best-of-seven series, the Canadiens won a wild and ill-tempered Game 5 to reduce the deficit to 3-2 and retain some hope of reaching the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 21 years.
The next game is scheduled for New York today, with the eventual winner to play either the Los Angeles Kings or the Chicago Blackhawks for the NHL championship.
Photo: AFP
“Sometimes it seems that wherever you’re going the puck seems to be following you,” Bourque said. “My linemates did a great job of getting the puck to me and we had a lot of shots on net.”
Montreal got off to a flying start on home ice when Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk tipped in a slap shot from P.K. Subban to score inside the first two minutes from a power play after New York’s Chris Kreider was sent to the penalty box for tripping.
That goal set the tone for a chaotic slugfest between the two Original Six rivals, with the Rangers leveling the game in the opening period when Derek Stepan, who was recalled despite suffering a broken jaw in Game 3, scored from a wrist shot.
The Canadiens regained the lead two minutes later when Tomas Plekanec snapped a shot past New York’s unsighted goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, to end the first period 2-1 in front.
There were six goals, three from each team, in a crazy second period that ended with Montreal leading 5-4.
The Canadiens, who lost the first two games of the series at home, extended their lead to 4-1 early in the second period when Max Pacioretty, then Bourque scored.
New York coach Alain Vig-neault took the unusual step of replacing Lundqvist — who allowed four goals from 14 shots — with Cam Talbot and the visitors responded with three goals in a four-and-a-half-minute blitz.
“I pulled him because I thought at that time we needed a little momentum shift and I thought it might catch everybody’s attention,” Vigneault said. “It did for a while, but obviously it didn’t work out.”
Rick Nash started the comeback with a power-play goal, then Stepan beat Canadiens goaltender Dustin Tokarski, who made 23 saves, and Kreider scored his second off a power play when Plekanec was penalized for diving.
Montreal regained control when Bourque scored late in the second period, then early in the third, as New York’s frustrations boiled over.
John Moore was given a five-minute major penalty for elbowing Dale Weise, which could lead to a possible suspension, before Montreal’s David Desharnais finished off the scoring with an empty-netter less than five minutes from the end.
“John is definitely not the type of player to try to hurt someone, but it was a late hit and it was the right call on the ice,” Vigneault said.
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