New York: Martin St. Louis scored the overtime winner on Sunday, lifting the New York Rangers to a 3-2 win over Montreal and within sight of the NHL’s Stanley Cup finals.
St. Louis scored at 6:02 of the overtime period. The Canadiens had tried to clear the puck out of the zone at the left point, but Brad Richards managed to keep it in the zone and get it to Carl Hagelin.
Hagelin moved the puck across to the right circle, where St. Louis took the pass and fired a high shot over Canadiens goalie Dustin Tokarski for the victory.
“I looked up and he was just hanging out there on the right side,” Hagelin said. “I was tired at the time and I was just hoping he’d end the game.
“He did, it was a great shot by him. He didn’t have much to shoot it, but he found the spot over the glove.”
The win gave the Rangers a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals.
With one more victory they will reach the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since they lifted the trophy in 1994.
The Canadiens will try to keep the Rangers from closing out the series when they host game five on Tuesday.
Montreal have rallied from a 3-1 series deficit twice, in 2004 against Boston and in 2010 against Washington.
“It’s great but we haven’t done anything yet,” St. Louis said. “We’ll enjoy tonight but [Monday] we get on the plane and try to close out the series.”
Richards also cautioned that the series was “far from over”.
“You don’t want to get ahead of yourself,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity. You sign up for these opportunities at the start of the year. This is exactly the position that every player in the NHL hopes to be.
“We want to do it as quick as possible.”
New York also got goals from Hagelin off a short-handed breakaway in the first period, and Derick Brassard on a slap shot late in the second.
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves as he matched Mike Richter’s club record with his 41st career playoff victory.
Francis Bouillon and PK Subban scored for Montreal, who went 1-for-8 on the power play.
