Rangers vs. Canadiens: Game 4 score, highlights, reaction

"They're playing very well defensively", said NY coach Alain Vigneault, who added that the Rangers' fourth line of Tanner Glass, Jesper Fast and Oscar Lindberg has been his best forward combination. After scoring just three goals on Edmonton goaltender Cam Talbot through three games, San Jose put five past him in 33 minutes before he was mercifully pulled for Laurent Brossoit, making his playoff debut and allowing two goals of his own.

"They were desperate tonight", Price said of the Rangers. They're a good team; they're a fast team; they create a lot. We've got to do a better job of sticking with it, sticking with the system, and trusting it when you're down.

The Rangers outshot the Canadiens by a 32-24 margin in what was by far their best all-around effort of the series to this point.

While goals were scarce in New York's 2-0 win in the series opener, there were three in the first period alone on Friday.

"We proved to ourselves now that there's no reason we can't play like this every time", McDonagh said.

"They did all the things we're asking them to do". "I felt like we had a few more chances, but in the end it's about finding a way to win".

Until Lehkonen's goal, the game was nearly a virtual replay of Games 1-2. They had some chances, none better than first-period breakaways for Torrey Mitchell and Andrew Shaw, but they fell woefully short.

Fast opened the scoring at 11:39 with his first of the playoffs.

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault gave Montreal credit for a well-structured defensive game, but expressed disappointment in his top players. The Rangers dressed the majority of their regular lineup minus Henrik Lundqvist, with third-string goalie Magnus Hellberg getting his first National Hockey League start. "We've shown in this series in moments we play that way we're a hard team to play against".

Then, in Game 3, Zuccarello was limited to one shot on goal, but had four hits and four penalty minutes, one of which led to a Canadiens' power play goal.

"He's day to day", Canadiens coach Claude Julien said to the Montreal Gazette. "He was a real leader for us out there tonight". "In the second and third period we tried, but we weren't able to find the back of the net".

Michael Grabner, Mats Zuccarello and Rick Nash scored for NY.

Schwartz had a power-play goal at 15:19 of the second period to put the Blues one win away from the second round. "He seemed to be in a good space", Vigneault said of Buchnevich.

Game 4 will likely come down to which team's slumping offensive players step up.

Through the first quarter mark of the season, the Rangers looked, and were rightly praised, as the team that was going to change the way lineups were built.

"We weren't great in Game 1".

Neither team made lineup changes from the series opener.

And, in doing so the Rangers - gasp - won a playoff game at Madison Square Garden, snapping a six-game losing streak dating to Game 2 of the 2015 Eastern Conference final against the Lightning. He had difficulty explaining how he scored the goal.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Markus Nutivaara, William Karlsson and Boone Jenner each had a goal and an assist and the Columbus Blue Jackets held on to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, avoiding a sweep in the best-of-seven playoff series. This first-round series is now tied 2-2 as it shifts to Montreal for Thursday's Game 5.