New York Rangers-Montreal Canadiens: Tortorella Makes History

The New York Rangers won their 5th game out of the last 7 playing 65 minutes of playoff style hockey, 4-3 in a shoot-out over the Montreal Canadiens.

Rangers head coach John Tortorella moved ahead of Peter Laviolette for the most wins by an American-born NHL coach with 245. The Rangers have now won six of their last eight games.

The Montreal Canadiens hit Sean Avery as if he were Bob "Killer" Dill and had just dropped the gloves with Maurice Richard to start the St. Patrick's Day Riot, but the New York Rangers won the game 4-3.

The Rangers outshot the Canadiens 42-29 in an emotional and entertaining game. The Rangers leapfrogged over the Canadiens with the win and now have 82 points.

Sean Avery was at the center of a lot of the action, but he got abused repeatedly by the Canadiens. It was the Rangers first game after Avery rocked Madison Square Garden for the New York.

Avery led the Rangers to a win over the Philadelphia Flyers and it looked like the Canadiens were determined to stop him from doing the same thing to them.

The Canadiens' fans booed Avery every time he touched the puck and Montreal took turns running him over. At the end of the second period, he was knocked down and didn't get up, but the referee ignored him. He was dropped to the ice by an elbow smash from Glen Metropolit.

Avery lured Mike Komisarek into a slashing penalty in the second period. The Montreal defenceman was so annoyed, he smashed a TV camera in the penalty box.

The Canadiens opened the game with a few big shots and big hits. The Rangers took a couple of penalties, but the Canadiens failed to score on their power plays. Derek Morris  went off for holding and Marc Staal got caught for tripping.

The first period ended tied at zero, each team with 11 shots.

Avery started the second period by charging the net and getting slammed into the boards. Derek Morris got his second penalty of the game. The Canadiens got their first penalty when Andrei Kostitsyn got called for interference. Lauri Korpikoski No. 29 went off for hooking.

Nik Antropov finally got the Rangers on the board, knocking in a big rebound off a shot by Avery, while both teams had four skaters.

Antropov now has a goal a game for the past three games and 25 for the season, including four for the Rangers, plus two assists in his seven games since leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs.
   
The Canadiens tied the game on their seventh power play, when Alexi Kovalev scored. Kovalev returned to the Montreal lineup after missing two games with the flu.

Scott Gomez hit the post with seconds left in the second period. The Rangers started the third period on the power play.

The Rangers took the lead, five minutes into the third period, on a goal by Nik Zherdev, assisted by Scott Gomez. The Canadiens tied it up 40 seconds later with a goal by Maxim Lapierre.

Ryan Callahan gave the Rangers the lead for the third time, scoring his 20th goal of the year, after Brandon Dubinsky made a great play to get him the puck.

The Canadiens tied it again when Andrei Markov beat Lundqvist upstairs with less than five minutes remaining. 

Each team had 23 shots during the first two periods, but the Rangers outshot the Canadiens 16-5 in the third. The game was tied 3-3 and the Canadiens started the overtime on the power play. The Rangers dominated the overtime period, but nobody scored.

In the shoot-out, Carey Price faced Markus Naslund, Antropov, and Chris Drury.

Lundqvist faced Kostitsyn, Kovalev, Markov. Kostitsyn missed the net, Kovalev and Markov scored.

Naslund scored through the five hole. Andtropov scored, making it look easy. Chris Drury scored the game winner.

On the day many Montreal Canadiens fans were remembering "L’affaire Richard" or the St. Patrick’s Day Riot, 54 years ago, the New York Rangers gave them a game they would rather forget.

The Canadiens are 21-8-5 at home this season, had lost four of their last six overall, and were tied with the Rangers for sixth overall in the Eastern Conference with 80 points.

The Canadiens beat the Rangers in their two meetings earlier this season.

The Rangers split a home-and-home set with rival, Philadelphia, over the weekend. New York dropped a 4-2 road test on Saturday before responding with a 4-1 victory the following afternoon, the club's fifth win in its last seven games.

New York improved to 5-2 since the return of Avery and the addition of Antropov.