National Hockey League
Montreal 5, NY Rangers 4
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 14, 2017
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Referees: Dan O'Halloran, Chris Rooney
Linesmen: Michel Cormier, Matt MacPherson
Attendance: 21288

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens found themselves down but never let themselves be out.

Montreal erased a trio of one-goal deficits and scored three times in 62 seconds to skate away with a 5-4 against the New York Rangers on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Trailing 3-2 to enter the third period, Alexei Emelin, Max Pacioretty and Paul Byron connected for the Canadiens, sending the home crowd into a frenzy as Montreal earned its first and only lead of the night.

"We knew that they played last night and that if we stuck with the structure, we'd get our chances," said Pacioretty. "There's not really a sense of panic going into the third, when we know our game's decent but we know that everyone's on board and everyone's going to do what it takes to win the game. I think we deserved the bounces we got in the third."

It marked Montreal's sixth win this season when trailing after 40 minutes, second most in the NHL and only one behind the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Alex Galchenyuk and Brian Flynn also scored for Montreal (27-11-6), which bounced back from a 7-0 loss in Minnesota on Thursday.

Brandon Pirri, Rick Nash, J.T. Miller and Derek Stepan scored for the Rangers (28-15-1).

Carey Price turned aside 29 shots for the Canadiens. Antti Raanta stopped 10 shots before leaving the game after the first period with a lower-body injury. Henrik Lundqvist made 17 saves in relief, and is now 4-8-2 lifetime at the Bell Centre -- including 0-6-1 in his last seven.

"It's disappointing," Lundqvist said of a lead quickly slipping away. "Personally, coming in like this and not being able to come up with saves. It's definitely not an easy game to play when it opens up like that in the second. And then in the third it was kind of quiet for a while and the bounces out there were tough to defend."

The Canadiens thought they opened the scoring early in the first when Phillip Danault lifted the puck into the net but the Rangers challenged, and the call was overturned.

New York's strong road power play provided the visitors with the lead at 12:24 of the first period. Stepan won the draw back to defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who faked a shot before dishing off to Pirri at the top of the right circle.

A few minutes later, Montreal found itself not only down a goal but also a forward after Shaw was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for a late hit on New York's Jesper Fast. Fast left the game briefly but returned.

Galchenyuk's 10th of the season tied it at 3:08 of the second. Mark Barberio fired a shot from the point and Galchenyuk, alone and uncovered in the slot, tipped it past Lundqvist on the first shot the netminder faced.

Nash put the Rangers in front again just over three minutes later. Kevin Hayes skated in on a partial break and Price made the save but was pulled out of position when Hayes' skate got caught in his pad, and Nash pushed the loose puck into the net.

The Canadiens challenged for goaltender interference but the call stood.

Miller made it 3-2 with the Rangers' sixth short-handed goal of the season. After Galchenyuk lost the puck at the blue line, Hayes drove down the left side before feeding Miller at 11:07.

The first half of the third period went by without much spark, until Emelin evened the score at 10:53 with a point shot that went through traffic to beat Lundqvist. That set the crowd into a frenzy and the Canadiens on a flurry.

"I wasn't sure we were giving them any looks there for that first half and then we just lost our structure and gave them a little bit of room to make plays, and they made them," McDonagh said.

Pacioretty gave Montreal its first lead of the night 36 seconds later when he beat McDonagh to the puck and split the Rangers' defense before wristing one five-hole. Then, 26 seconds after that, Byron added to the frenzy with his 13th of the season.

"They're a good hockey team and they're built a lot like us -- a lot of speed, a lot of pace to their game," Byron said. "We knew we had to keep going, keep pushing, and as the game wore on I thought our team started to get our legs a little more and then we were outskating them. It was just one of those up and down games between two good hockey teams."

Stepan brought New York to within one at 14:53, which was quickly reviewed for a high stick before the call on the ice stood.

NOTES: Canadiens C Alex Galchenyuk (knee) and RW Andrew Shaw (concussion) returned to the lineup after missing time with injury. ... Montreal D Andrei Markov remained sidelined with a groin injury while LW Chris Terry, who was placed on waivers earlier in the day, LW Daniel Carr and D Ryan Johnston were scratched. ... New York scratched LW Marek Hrivik while LW Matt Puempel (concussion symptoms) and D Marc Staal (upper body) missed their fifth and fourth consecutive games, respectively. ... Montreal coach Michel Therrien coached his 800th NHL game.
Top Game Performances
 
NY Rangers   Montreal
Derek Stepan 2 Points Phillip Danault 3
Derek Stepan 1 Goals Paul Byron 1
Kevin Hayes 2 Assists Phillip Danault 3
Brandon Pirri 1 Power Play Goals N/A
J.T. Miller 1 Short Handed Goals N/A
Antti Raanta 1.000 Save Percentage Carey Price .879
Henrik Lundqvist 17 Saves Carey Price 29
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
NY Rangers 33 4 1-3 2-2 9 23
Montreal 32 5 0-2 2-3 24 36
Upcoming Games
  • Montreal will play their next game on the road against Detroit. The Canadiens have a W/L % of .593 after a win and .647 after a loss.
  • NY Rangers will play their next game at home against Dallas. The Rangers have a W/L % of .536 after a win and .812 after a loss.