Rangers Take Point in Shootout Loss to Habs

Derek Stepan said no player is ever satisfied with just one point, but to a man, the Rangers knew they played well enough to win in Tuesday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.
"You're never satisfied with just one point. You've got to try and get both every single night," said Stepan, who hit the cross bar in the third round of the shootout before Paul Byron beat Henrik Lundqvist in the fifth round for the win. "I thought it was a good game. Both sides played a full 65 minutes, competed real hard and we had our looks. Their goaltender made some saves and they had their looks and our goaltender made some saves. It was a good hockey game."

Tuesday's overtime is what the NHL had in mind when it implemented three-on-three overtime at the start of last season. Both teams had chances and both goaltenders gave their team a chance to win.
Lundqvist had the edge early when he made a glove save on Max Pacioretty, and again moments later with the Montreal captain on a breakaway.

The save of the night, though, came from Carey Price, who dove across the crease to stop J.T. Miller at the buzzer to send the game to the shootout.
"It was a good save," Miller said. "I probably could have gotten the puck up a little bit more, but it was a pretty good one."
Head coach Alain Vigneault couldn't help but grin when talking about both team's opportunities in the five minute period.
"In overtime, we had some looks," Vigneault said with a smile. "Both goaltenders tonight made some big saves at some big times."
The Rangers never led in the game and fell behind early on Andrew Shaw's eighth goal of the year just 3:55 into the contest.

The Blueshirts would tie it at 10:03 of the opening period on Oscar Lindberg's third of the season. The center started a rush in his own zone and hit Jesper Fast at the Rangers' blueline. Fast carried the puck into Montreal's end and hit Lindberg with a centering feed from the corner that Lindberg directed past Price and into the net.
The Canadiens would regain the lead on Shea Weber's power play goal at 1:42 of the second period. Weber fired a slap shot from the point that snuck through Lundqvist and into the net for his 14th of the season.
Rick Nash had an opportunity on a breakaway to pull the Rangers even, but his backhand to forehand move was stuffed by Carey Price at the far post.

Nash, though, would get the last laugh when he broke in again minutes later and beat Price with a wrist shot over the netminder's glove for his 17th of the season at 9:26 of the middle frame to tie the game, 2-2.
"I feel like my game has been good," Nash said. "I've been around the net and getting chances, making a lot of plays. It paid off tonight."
While he said he couldn't be satisfied in the moment, Lundqvist said he was pleased with his team's performance in a losing effort.
"We did a lot of good things. We played well enough to win it," said Lundqvist, who made 26 saves. "It came down to some extra shots in the end here, but we definitely had the looks and we worked hard all over the ice. We just played a really good team; they had a strong game as well. There are a lot of good things to take with us here for next game.
"I am pretty disappointed right now," Lundqvist added, "but I appreciate the effort here from everyone."