NEW YORK — Sam Montembeault made 38 saves in his second start in as many nights, and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Montembeault, who made 36 saves in a 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday, made eight saves in the final five minutes of the third period to preserve the win. He started all four of Montreal’s games last week, allowing nine goals on 159 shots (.943 save percentage).
“There was an opportunity for him tonight, and obviously he seized it,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “He was a big player for us tonight. I thought we played hard in front of him. Obviously, he has to correct the last mistakes we made, and they brought a lot of shots.
“I’m not sure what the chances finished after the game, but after two the chances were pretty even and both teams had, so to speak, a power-play goal. Theirs was 6-on-5. So, it was a good battle and in the third period, we found a way to get another goal, and then we did a pretty good job of shutting them down.”
Video: MTL@NYR: Caufield gets a pass in front and scores
Cole Caufield had a goal and an assist, and Kirby Dach scored a power-play goal for the Canadiens (18-23-3), who have won three of their past five games.
Artemi Panarin scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves for the Rangers (24-13-7), who ended their seven-game point streak.
“A little bit more sloppy than what we wanted, but their goalie made some good saves,” New York captain Jacob Trouba said. “It was a pretty even game. I think we played a pretty solid game, too, but got a little bit sloppy.”
Panarin was one of three Rangers players, including Vitaly Kravtsov and Ryan Lindgrenwho played Sunday despite missing practice Saturday because of a stomach bug that coach Gerard Gallant said has been going around the team.
“The energy level didn’t look great, so whether it’s that or not, I don’t know,” Gallant said. “I’m not going to yell at them, scream at them with what’s going on. We were hoping they were going to have some good jump. Look, it was a pretty even game. They got one bounce they beat us to. It wasn’t awful, but we expect better from our group.”
Video: MTL@NYR: Panarin rips home a shot on a delayed penalty
Dach gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 4:54 of the second period, scoring on a 3-on-2 rush. After Jacob Trouba’s shot on a short-handed 2-on-1 went wide, Caufield moved the puck to Christian Dvorakwho gave it to Dach for a shot glove side from the right hash marks.
Dach has 27 points (eight goals, 19 assists) this season, an NHL career high.
“Both games (against the Islanders and Rangers) we played pretty good goalies, and you know it’s not going to be a shootout, you’re going to have to end up scoring one or two and playing good defensively in a good team-structured game,” Dach said. “That’s what it came down to, and it’s nice to be rewarded.”
Panarin tied it 1-1 at 16:03. Although the Rangers failed to convert on a power play that started at 13:08, they were able to hold the puck in the offensive zone, and with Shesterkin off the ice for an extra skater because of a delayed penalty, Panarin scored with a wrist. shot from the right face-off circle.
However, Caufield made it 2-1 at 8:56 of the third period, after burying a shot by Shesterkin. K’Andre Miller lost the puck in his skates below the Rangers’ goal line.
“I’m always ready in those situations,” Caufield said. “You’ve got to capitalize on their mistakes, and we did that there.”
It was Caufield’s 26th goal of the season and his seventh in his past eight games.
“I felt from start to finish we were very engaged physically, mentally,” St. Louis said. “It’s one of those games where you’re coming into this building, they’re 13-2-2 in their last 17, they’ve been waiting for you. The game is at 5, a quick turnaround, we’re on a back to back, our injuries, it seemed like before the puck dropped you had an uphill battle.
“I just felt we came in tonight and we didn’t focus on all of the excuses we had for not giving it our all. Just a gutsy win. By no means was it perfect, but the engagement was an all-time high for our team this season.”
NOTES: The Canadiens won on the road for the first time since Dec. 19 (0-6-1 in previous seven). … Miller had an assist on Panarin’s goal to extend his point streak to six games (three goals, five assists). … Jake Leschyshyn made his season debut with the Rangers, who claimed the forward off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. Leschyshyn had two shots and two hits in 6:47 of ice time. … New York played its second straight game without a forward Chris Kreiderwho is day to day with an upper-body injury.
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