Playing without Rick Nash for the first time, the Rangers lacked conistent jump and precision in their game Tuesday night, eventually falling to the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 at Madison Square Garden. The loss ended the Blueshirts three-game homestand on a sour note, and dropped their overall record to 8-6-1 on the season. The win was Montreal's fifth in a row.
Nash was scratched due to an unspecified health-related reason.
The Rangers and Canadiens entered the third period deadlocked at 1-1 after 40 minutes of tight-checking, defense-first hockey by both teams. But Montreal cashed in on a rare odd-man rush early in the third period to snag their first lead of the game, 2-1.
Rookie Alex Galchenyuk -- who seven weeks ago, along with Rangers rookie J.T. Miller, helped Team USA win the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships -- jammed home his second goal of the season just 1:48 into the final period. Former Ranger Brandon Prust, in his first game at The Garden and against his ex-teammates since signing with the Canadiens as a free agent last summer, earned the primary assist on the go-ahead goal. After taking a lead pass down-low on right wing, Prust centered into the low slot where Galchenyuk put it past Henrik Lundqvist.
Defenseman Raphael Diaz scaled one from his own end of the ice into the empty Rangers net with 1:06 remaining to put the finishing touches on Montreal's road win.
Anton Stralman had opened the scoring for the Rangers at 12:29 of the second period, netting his second goal of the season off a Derek Stepan cross-crease pass from left to right.
• COMMENT ON BLUESHIRTS UNITED | PHOTO GALLERY
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STAT OF THE GAME
The Rangers and Canadiens combined for eight shots on goal in the first period (NYR – 5; MTL – 3), which is the fewest combined shots in a single period for the Rangers since Feb. 27, 2012, against New Jersey (first and third periods). |
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| (selected by newyorkrangers.com) |
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| 1. Hagelin |
2. Staal |
3. Stralman |
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Canadiens
Rangers
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