First period
- Cole Caufield cheats a bit speeding out into the neutral zone as the puck stays in the Canadiens’ end, and that opens up some space for J.T. Miller to get the puck to Braden Schneider to walk in and shoot, but Jacob Fowler makes the save.
- The second line comes out, and pass from Ivan Demidov to Oliver Kapanen in the slot just fails to connect.
- The top line has now spent both of its shifts in the defensive zone. They have had several games with that not happening this season, though Zachary Bolduc isn’t the same player as Juraj Slafkovský.
- Bolduc races onto the puck to get a shot off, but misses the net. He’s struggling with his accuracy this season.
- The Habs are having some issues with the pace the Rangers are playing at, trying to outskate them rather than beating the beating the pressure with quick passing.
- Bolduc didn’t need much accuracy on this attempt, he just needed to be hard enough on his stick to redirect the pass from Nick Suzuki behind Igor Shesterkin. The Canadiens are up 1-0 on their first registered shot.
Nick Suzuki puts it right on the tape for Zachary Bolduc on the doorstep. 1-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 13, 2025 at 8:45 PM
[image or embed]
- A quick play by Adam Engström immediately turns defensive-zone pressure into a two-on-one. Alexandre Texier gets the puck across to Josh Anderson, but the shot misses the mark.
- Before the third line leaves the ice, Arber Xhekaj steps into a shot from the blue line and keeps the Canadiens’ shooting percentage perfect.
Freshly back in the lineup, Arber Xhekaj fires a sneaky point shot to make it 2-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 13, 2025 at 8:47 PM
[image or embed]
- Out comes Suzuki as Martin St-Louis tries to keep the pedal down. The captain fires the puck off the post.
- Every line is going right now, and it really helps the fourth line when Lane Hutson jumps up to be a forward. He combines with Brendan Gallagher and Joe Veleno to set up Jake Evans, who nets his fifth of the season.
Lane Hutson gets involved in the forecheck, sets up Jake Evans for a short-side snipe to make it 3-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 13, 2025 at 8:56 PM
[image or embed]
- Now they just need to keep playing this way and not like the did in the third period on Thursday.
- So far not so good as Hutson immediately goes off interference.
- The penalty kill is back in a diamond, but in this case it makes sense since the Rangers only have one player down low.
- Evans gets a short-handed breakaway trying to make it a 4-0 lead, but misses his chance.
- And now it’s just a two-goal lead as Xhekaj whiffed on a puck sitting in front of Fowler and Noah Laba poked it in.
- Fowler will face a penalty shot as Noah Dobson comes over the boards and has to chase Artemiy Panarin on a breakaway, wrapping him up on the shot.
- Panarin scores. It’s 3-2.
- Gallagher gets tripped in the neutral zone and Montreal will have a brief power play to end the period, and almost a full one to start the middle frame.
- It was an all-too-common implosion after going up by a few goals. They need to learn how to play with a lead, but at least they still have one.
Second period
- Too many passes between Suzuki and Demidov prevent the Habs from scoring on the one real power-play chance they were able to generate.
- Hutson collects the puck and dances through the zone, looking for someone to pass the puck to. He finds Anderson, and a rising one-timer from the Powerhorse moves the lead back to two.
Lane Hutson with some ridiculous set up work, and Josh Anderson one-times it home to make it 4-2 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 13, 2025 at 9:29 PM
[image or embed]
- Vladislav Gavrikov wraps his stick around Caufield’s chest as the winger goes in on the forecheck, but the referee deems that legal defence.
- Will Cuylle throws the puck out to the crease, and it ends up pinballing into the net to make it 4-3.
- J.T. Miller ties the game as he left all alone in front of the net and collects a rebound before depositing it five-hole.
- This is just the third time the Rangers have scored four goals at MSG this season.
- Fowler sees a puck go off the post, but sticks with the play as another shot comes from the other side. That could prove to be an important save in this game.
- Hutson sees that his forwards need a change, so does a lap around the offensive zone and hands of to fresh troops in the neutral zone. He made that look like an overtime shift.
- Sam Carrick tries to land a big hit on Matheson, but only gets air as Matheson sidesteps him.
- It’s another second period with a negative goal differential for Montreal, outscored 2-1 in the frame.
Third period
- Hutson spends another shift in the offensive zone. He’s doing everything he can in this game.
- The Rangers score, but Fowler is adamant that the puck was kicked in. The refs get together and quickly agree. It will be reviewed, but won’t be overturned. Fowler wins his first NHL debate.
- Just two shots in this period for Montreal, but also only three for the Rangers. Montreal would be happy with the third point on the road trip, and New York would be content to gain anything from a home game.
- After a rather uneventful period, an icing call with 72 seconds might be the opportunity the Rangers need to change that. Montreal survives the shift, and turns it into an offensive-zone faceoff for 13 seconds to play.
- Each team gets the point it wanted, and will now play for the final one. Three points on the road trip is a good result. The fourth would be a great one. But they do need to grab in overtime instead of going up against Shesterkin in the shootout.
Overtime
- New York wins a scrambled faceoff and takes the all-important first possession.
- Kapanen gets a breakaway, but misses the net.
- Panarin is interfered with as he tries to get a shot, and has drawn his second big call of the game.
- It’s going to be hard for Montreal to win this now. They might need to take a chance short-handed.
- Miller gets the goal on a one-time to give the Rangers the win.
- It’s both good that Montreal got the three points, and bad that they could only get one tonight after holding a 3-0 lead.
- Now they’ll head home to play the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow, with no two-day break on the schedule until the Christmas one.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) He saw his moment to get cheered by the fans
2) I was surprised the review was so quick. There must have been one angle they could have found
1) It’s harming the second line’s effectiveness, so the coaches need to intervene
