Rangers even series with Canadiens

Henrik Lundqvist made 54 saves and was stellar in defeat.

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Connor McDavid and Zack Kassian scored short-handed goals to help the Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks, levelling their first-round series at one game apiece.

The offense looked more crisp with the blended lines and was far more aggressive.

Lundqvist kept the game scoreless in the first period, as he made several point-blank stops among his 10 saves during the opening 20 minutes while Price only had to make six saves.

The Blueshirts struck first in the first period when right winger Jesper Fast scored his first goal of the postseason to give NY a 1-0 lead.

"We've been playing a certain style this season that's permitted us to get into the playoffs that, in my estimation, when we play it, we're a hard team to play against", coach Alain Vigneault told the New York Post on Monday. "I thought we managed the puck better and played a better game". The puck went in the net on the play but the goal was immediately waved off and Nash was assessed a two-minute minor for goalie interference, thereby nullifying the NY power play.

The Canadiens began a more aggressive forecheck, sending three forwards in and crashed the net, rattling the Blueshirt coverage. Mitchell worked a give-and-go with Weber that ended with Mitchell tapping home his first goal of the postseason. Weber got a pass from Alex Galchenyuk in the left circle and fired it past a sprawled Lundqvist at 7:42.

NY got the victor in the second when Rick Nash's backhand in tight beat Montreal goaltender Carey Price at 4:28. Thankfully, they got just what the doctor ordered as Jesper Fast capitalized off of a miscue by Andrei Markov behind Carey Price's net.

"He's a difference-maker", center Mika Zibanejad said of Nash. "I was pumped up". "Once I took to the backhand I saw the five hole kind of open up".

The Rangers looked to be protecting their lead in the third period, when they were outshot 18-9, and gave up most of the scoring chances in OT, including Shea Weber's shot that clanged off a goalpost.

Halfway through Game 4, coach Claude Julien flipped Radulov down to the second line, moving Andrew Shaw to Pacioretty's right side along with usual lineman Philip Danault.

"We weren't great in Game 1". Some of our problems have come a lot on our puck management.

However, staying in character, the team failed to close out and allowed a game-tying goal to bounce in off of Nick Holden with 17.3 seconds remaining before Alexander Radulov finished the game with under a minute and half of the first overtime. "There were a couple of chances where we got pucks to the net and the rebounds were sitting there, and we have to dig a little deeper to come up with those second chances". NY had a 12-6 edge in shots and the Canadiens had nine giveaways in the period. A clearing attempt was thwarted by Ryan McDonagh who promptly sent Nash in all alone on Price. In the second period, we let them crawl back.

"I still think we could be a little better in the third period", Nash said.

Even with room for improvement, it was enough to pull out the win and draw the series even. "We felt like we had to play our best to get back to Montreal with a tie series, and that's exciting".

The Rangers will now set their sights on Montreal as the series shifts back to the Bell Centre in Thursday night and the Rangers will certainly have to bring the same game, with minor adjustments in order to take a series lead and out the Habs on the brink.