In near 100 years of history, the Montreal Canadiens had never won a game after trailing by 5 goals. Yesterday night, they did!
The game got off to a bad start for the Habs as Carey Price gave up 3 goals on 11 shots, which caused him to be replaced by Cristobal Huet. Huet wasn't better, being scored on twice by Brendan Shanahan and Chris Drury, both on the Powerplay. From a Montreal Canadiens point of view, the game was over. The Habs were being beaten up by the Rangers and their lead seemed to be impossible to close in on, even though there were 14:57 left to the 2nd period, and therefore 3/4 of the game left to come back.
Indeed, it was time which gave us an advantage, as well as the Rangers' overconfidence.
In these remaining 14 minutes of the 2nd period, Michael Ryder, of all people, scored twice, his first goal being a beautiful shot up-high on Rangers' keeper Henrik Lundqvist. Even after these goals, the Montreal Faithful didn't think any comeback was possible, but there was still hope...
The 3rd period was decisive. Two goals scored by Alex Kovalev and Mark Streit (more or less, he deflected a Michael Ryder shot with his left leg...) trimmed the Rangers' lead to 1 goal.
Then, Marek Malik took a selfish penalty for slashing at 14:22 of the 3rd Period, bringing the league's best powerplay onto the ice. 1:14 later, Alex Kovalev ripped a shot to Lundqvist's right and scored.
The game was now tied and off to overtime. The Rangers had the best chance of scoring and therefore erasing their mistake during the overtime period, as Scott Gomez, came very close to re-directing a Brendan shanahan pass past Canadiens' keeper Cristobal Huet.
The game was now off to shootout. After 4 missed opportunities, Saku Koivu came onto the ice as the Habs' 2nd shooter. Koivu came in slowly on Lundqvist, and then deeked him out rapidly, to score. The Rangers' 3rd shooter, the streaky Jaromir Jagr, had to score to extend the game. As he drew close to Huet's crease, he lost control of the puck while attempting a deke. The game was over, the Canadiens had won, 6-5!
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