Rangers overcome penalty in OT to beat Canadiens

NEW YORK -- It was the last thing the New York Rangers wanted to be doing in overtime. They had no choice.

Rangers forward Benoit Pouliot was guilty of holding Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban's stick in the offensive zone 30 seconds into the extra session Sunday, putting New York on the penalty kill for the eighth time in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.

The Rangers were even on special teams so far in the game, with one power-play goal against and one shorthanded goal for. A second power-play goal against would have tied the best-of-7 series heading into Game 5 on Tuesday at Bell Centre (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

"Your stomach turns a little bit when you take a penalty in overtime any time," Rangers defenseman Marc Staal said. "It gives them that advantage, and it's a big advantage in overtime."

The Rangers didn't let the Canadiens use the advantage to win the game. They killed the penalty, and less than four minutes after Pouliot was released from the box, Martin St. Louis scored the OT winner to give the Rangers a 3-2 victory and a 3-1 lead in the series.

"It's a big kill. It's probably a huge difference in the game," Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "You get some momentum off of it. You can kind of relax again and focus on playing. We didn't panic. We had a lot of practice in the beginning part of the game."

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist saw three shots on that power play, all from the outside. New York blocked two shots, cleared the puck down the ice four times, and got possession late in the kill, managing to get two long-range shots on goal.

Montreal still had some looks after the power play, but eventually the Rangers settled down, got the puck in the zone, kept it there, and set up St. Louis for his winner from the right circle.

"We had a great kill [in overtime]," Staal said. "We needed it."

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter: @drosennhl