Rangers Complete Comeback to Stun Canadiens in Montreal

For the first time since December, 1991, the Rangers came back from four goals or more down to win a game, defeating the Montreal Canadiens 6-5 on the road. The Rangers’ first and second stars in this game were Brendan Lemieux who had two goals and Artemi Panarin who had a goal and an assist.

On a Saturday night in Montréal, the Rangers went down by four goals early in this game, and it seemed like New York was headed for their second-straight loss to start their Canadian road trip.

For Alexandar Georgiev, the game started out horribly. The Canadiens scored four goals on him in the first period and the Rangers looked lifeless.

“It’s kind of dramatic to bring a guy into a game [in Montreal], then they know they got you and I didn’t want to ignite the crowd,” Head coach David Quinn said, in regards to thinking about taking Georgiev out and bringing in Henrik Lundqvist.

The Rangers were out of the game until Filip Chytil scored at 6:51 in the second period to make it 4-1. Buchnevich then scored with a little help from the Canadiens d-men and Lemieux deflected an Adam Fox wrister in the net to cut the deficit to one.

The Rangers were like a freight train in the third period and never stopped attacking. Artemi Panarin has been their most consistent scorer all season. But the Canadiens would not cede momentum easily. Arturri Lehkonen scored to put Montréal ahead 5-3 just five minutes into the third period. Then with 5:51 gone by in the third, Chris Kreider sent a pass across the slot to Panarin who scored his 12th goal of the year.

Then, Panarin took an interference penalty. Late on the power play, the Canadiens gave up possession of the puck. Brett Howden found Lemieux flying in front of Carey Price and Lemieux sent a sprawling wrist shot past Price to tie the game.

Late in the third, Ryan Strome won a face-off in the offensive zone and the puck came back to Jacob Trouba. With Kreider screening Montréal goaltender Carey Price, Trouba took a shot on goal that got past Price with 7:50 left in the game. The Rangers took the lead for the first time in the game and completed a monumental comeback at the Belle Centre Saturday night.

Two key Rangers in this comeback win were Lemieux and Fox. Lemieux scored two big goals during the second and third period that kept momentum going New York’s way. Lemieux showed that he can play winning hockey. He gets to the front of the net, screens the goalie, and makes hits and wins one-on-one battles with opposing defensemen. Lemieux’s goals were not pretty, but they got the job done and helped keep the Rangers on the offense at the Belle Centre. Fox, the rookie defenseman, played for over twenty minutes and added an assist to one of his best games in Blue.

Panarin was named the NHL’s second star of the game, for his two-points. Also, the Rangers’ Brady Skjei and Kreider both had an assist.

“That shows a lot of resilience for our group, anytime your team is able to do that,” Lemieux said, “And to do it in Montréal, [to win in Montréal] always feels a little bit better.”

Coach Quinn had high praise for Brendan Lemieux and what he means to his team.

“I’ve talked about it a lot, he does a lot for us, he’s everything you want in a hockey player,” said Quinn.

For this game, Trouba and Skjei were paired up and it ended up paying off. Quinn last paired Trouba and Skjei together in the first couple games of the season. Perhaps the fact that rookies Lindgren and Fox have made for a strong pairing, influenced his decision to try something different.

Trouba got the game-winning goal and Skjei assisted Chytil’s goal that got the Rangers their first goal of the night.

To defeat the Montréal Canadiens who held a better place in the standings and beat them on their home ice was a monumental achievement for this Rangers team.

“I love Georgiev, I think he’s tremendous, but it’s in the back of his head that Shesterkin is playing out of his mind [in the AHL],” said MSG’s Steve Valiquette regarding the Rangers goaltending.

Valiquette pointed out that the Rangers should entertain bringing up Igor Shesterkin, if Georgiev continues to struggle. However, Georgiev stayed with it and held down the fort while the Rangers offense went to work in the second half of a great comeback win.

With a marvelous comeback win tonight, the Rangers improved to 10-9-2 on the season. Their next game is against the Minnesota Wild on Monday November 25.