Armia scores hat trick, powers Canadiens past Rangers

NEW YORK --Joel Armia scored his first NHL hat trick to help the Montreal Canadiens defeat the New York Rangers 4-2 at Madison Square Garden on Friday.

Carey Price made 28 saves for his 313th NHL win, one behind Jacques Plante for the most in Canadiens history.
Brendan Gallagher scored for the Canadiens (35-23-7), who are two points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Rangers highlights]
"I didn't have any (hat tricks) in the Finnish League either, just two goals, so it's been a while," said Armia, who has played 220 NHL games. "I knew if I got out there and had a chance I was going to bury it."
Vladislav Namestnikov scored, and Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves for New York (27-27-10), which is 11 points behind the Blue Jackets for the second wild card in the East.
Armia gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at 14:38 of the second period, scoring on a rebound after Lundqvist made the initial save on a Christian Folin shot off the end boards.

Armia made it 3-1 with a wrist shot from inside the right circle at 4:29 of the third period.
"He's got a good shot and he showed that tonight," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "Hopefully that's the confidence that's going to help him hopefully score some more for us."
Namestnikov gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 4:41 of the first, tipping a shot from Brady Skjei to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists).

Gallagher tied the game at 1-1, tipping a pass from Tomas Tatar over Lundqvist at 7:27 of the second period.
"I think this was a game where we played good enough to win, but that goal, it changed a lot," Lundqvist said. "It changed the momentum."
Said Gallagher: "To be honest, I haven't scored that much on Lundqvist. He's definitely a good goalie so it was nice to get one by him tonight for sure."

Brendan Lemieux, who was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, scored his first with the Rangers and 10th of the season to make it 3-2 at 17:28 of the third period.
"We kept battling but too little too late with that second one," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "If we get that second one a little earlier then maybe we'd be able to ride that momentum."
Armia completed the hat trick with 37 seconds remaining, scoring into an empty net for the 4-2 final.
"I think the most important thing for us is just to get this finished. ... get some momentum going into the next game here," Armia said.

They said it

"It's frustrating when something like that happens but I think in this game there are bounces and the puck doesn't always go where it's supposed to. It's how you react as a team and try to get back at it after that. ... Tried to get some offense going, we just couldn't really get too many good looks and cleans looks on Price who was seeing a lot of the shots." -- Rangers defenseman Marc Staal
"That team on the other side works hard. I saw them play against Tampa (on Wednesday); they should have won. ... I don't think we were surprised, we knew they were that good but I don't think we were ready to push back, and after the first period Carey kept us in it and made some big saves. ... You got to thank your goalie for giving you a chance tonight."-- Canadiens coach Claude Julien
"It's cool. He's a big part of our group and he's come in and he's fit in and he's filled a role. It's cool to see guys have those moments."-- Canadians forward Brendan Gallagher on Joel Armia's first NHL hat trick

Need to know

Price is 313-219-67 in 609 games in 12 seasons with Montreal; Plante was 314-133 with 107 ties in 556 games in 11 seasons with the Canadiens from 1952-63. ... Gallagher has five goals in his past five games. … Rangers defenseman Libor Hajek played 17:35 and had two shots on goal in his NHL debut. ... New York lost in regulation the first time in its past 11 games following a loss (8-1-2). ... Rangers defenseman Anthony DeAngelo had an eight-game point streak (nine assists) end. … Namestnikov has five goals in his past eight games. …

What's next

Canadiens: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)
Rangers: Host the Washington Capitals on Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS)