Canadiens vs Rangers

NEW YORK -- Dustin Tokarski had just finished answering a barrage of questions from the media after earning his first-ever win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As he was about to walk off the pedestal he was standing on to head toward the visitors' dressing room at Madison Square Garden, he stopped suddenly.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin had called out to Tokarski.

Bergevin had waited patiently for his turn to speak with the young man who might have saved Montreal's season with a 35-save performance in a 3-2 Canadiens win against the New York Rangers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday.

Tokarski quickly changed course and went to speak with Bergevin, away from the glare of the television cameras and recorders.

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers think they're winning the special-teams battle in the Eastern Conference Final because of what they're doing. The Montreal Canadiens think they're losing it because of what they're not doing.

They're both right, but what they think won't change the results of Games 1 and 2.

The Rangers dominated special teams at Bell Centre in Montreal and have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series heading into Game 3 on Thursday at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

For additional insight into the Stanley Cup Playoff series between the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens, NHL.com has enlisted the help of former NHL coach Craig Ramsay to break down the action. Ramsay will be checking in throughout the series.

Ramsay played in more than 1,000 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres before going on to coach the Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Atlanta Thrashers. In the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he led the Flyers to the seventh game of the Eastern Conference Final. Ramsay most recently was an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers.

Craig Ramsay doesn't hide his affinity for four-line hockey.

"I'm a huge believer in it," Ramsay told NHL.com.

What coach isn't? They love the ability to roll four lines, to rest their star forwards, and to watch their fourth-liners grind away minutes and eat away at the opposition's confidence.

Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien had that working in 2011, when they won the Stanley Cup against the Vancouver Canucks, who were coached by Alain Vigneault.

Vigneault now has the New York Rangers thriving with a four-line brand of hockey. They're two wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final.

The Montreal Canadiens are facing a difficult task, heading into enemy territory down 2-0 in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers.

With starting goaltender Carey Price out for at least the duration of the series with an injury to his right leg, the burden falls on rookie Dustin Tokarski to help the Canadiens back into the series, starting with Game 3 on Thursday at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

In addition to Tokarski giving his team a chance, here are five things the Canadiens must do to make this a series:

NEW YORK -- New York Rangers center Derek Stepan can't help but smile and even laugh as he witnesses the recognition defenseman Ryan McDonagh is starting to receive from the media during the Eastern Conference Final.

Stepan knows why it's coming in droves now: McDonagh's six points against the Montreal Canadiens and eight in his past five Stanley Cup Playoff games (all wins), is a giveaway.

"It's well-deserved," Stepan said.

BROSSARD, Quebec -- Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien warned not to read too much into it, but he put struggling forward Thomas Vanek in a fourth-line rotation at practice Wednesday.

Vanek was rotating with rookie Michael Bournival on right wing of a line with Brandon Prust and Daniel Briere, meaning there is a possibility Vanek will be scratched for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final in New York on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

Vanek is tied for the Canadiens lead with five goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but he has scored in three of his 13 games and failed to register a shot on goal three times, including the 3-1 loss in Game 2 on Monday.

Therrien would not confirm anything and for a second day in row refused to criticize Vanek's play.

"We're in the conference final," Therrien said. "To get here, we needed contributions from everyone. Every player who's played since the start of the playoffs has contributed in some way. That's important in my eyes."

MONTREAL -- As the final buzzer sounded at Bell Centre on Monday, ensuring the Montreal Canadiens were down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Final to the New York Rangers, P.K. Subban allowed himself to show a touch of frustration.

The Canadiens defenseman spent 5:02 of the final 6:03 of the game on the ice, trying desperately to beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist on a night he looked superhuman.

Subban must have been exhausted, and perhaps the gravity of the situation hit him, and he reacted.

He shot the puck around the boards, and skated off the ice.

That's it.

By the time the Canadiens dressing room was open to the media following their 3-1 loss in Game 2, Subban not only had lost that frustration, it was replaced by confidence.

Heading into Game 3 on Thursday in New York (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS), Subban felt enormously positive about where the Canadiens stood in the series.

With 10 games of prior NHL experience, Montreal Canadiens goaltender Dustin Tokarski stopped 27 of 30 shots Monday in a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Montreal fell behind 2-0 in the best-of-7 series, which continues Thursday with Game 3 at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m.; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

Making his Stanley Cup Playoff debut, the loss was a surreal experience for the 24-year-old, one to which former NHL goaltender Jussi Markkanen can relate.

MONTREAL -- New York Rangers forward Rick Nash never minds being a defensive stopper on occasion. He likes his role on the penalty kill, feels he thrives in being counted on to play all 200 feet, and enjoys being able to contribute in ways that don't show up on the score sheet.

The problem through the first 14 games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is that's all Nash was doing, and that's not why the Rangers are paying him $7.8 million per season.

Sure, Nash was generating scoring chances, the most of any player on the team, according to coach Alain Vigneault, but they never amounted to anything tangible. He was without a goal in 15 straight games entering the Eastern Conference Final, the longest scoring drought of his career.

"There was definitely a lot of frustration built up," Nash said.

MONTREAL -- Dustin Tokarski said it calmly, as though he'd said it a thousand times before.

There was no quivering in his voice, no sense of regret.

It was just a matter-of-fact statement that perfectly sums up the situation in which the Montreal Canadiens and Tokarski, their new No. 1 goaltender, find themselves, down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers.

"He's a superstar at the other end and he played like it tonight," Tokarski said after losing 3-1 in his debut in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Monday. "That was probably the difference."