Canadiens Wilt in the Third Period Against the Rangers | RECAP: MTL @ NYR

Forwards

22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
11 Brendan Gallagher - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia
70 Tanner Pearson - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson
55 Michael Pezzetta - 36 Colin White - 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 58 David Savard
54 Jordan Harris - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
47 Jayden Struble - 52 Justin Barron

Goaltenders

Starter: 30 Cayden Primeau 
Alternate: 35 Sam Montembeault

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Jesse Ylonen
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Joshua Roy (hand), Arber Xhekaj (upper body), Kaiden Guhle (upper body)

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The Canadiens played a rare Sunday night game against the top team in the NHL. And for two periods, the visitors worked hard fending off the Rangers to keep the game close. New York dominated the opening period but it was Montreal who enjoyed a 1-0 lead heading into the first period.

Cayden Primeau played well for 40 minutes allowing just a power play goal midway through the second period. The score was tied 1-1 after two periods.

But as Nick Suzuki said on Saturday night, good teams play consistently well for 60 minutes. And the Canadiens are not a good team. Not yet anyway.

In the third period, the Rangers took control of the game, displaying the kind of talent and execution that has propelled them to the top of the league's standings. New York scored four times in the final frame, including an empty-net goal.

The Rangers exploited mistakes by the Canadiens: scoring a power play goal after a lazy penalty in the offensive zone by Juraj Slafkovsky; Artemi Panarin outworking Mike Matheson for a goal; and a Josh Anderson turnover leading to the second goal of the game for Mika Zibanejad.

Cole Caufield scored his 24th goal of the season, extending his goal scoring streak to four games. Alex Newhook had the other goal for Montreal, his 30th point of the season in 50 games.

With the loss, the Canadiens are now 28th in the NHL, the same spot they finished in the standings last season.

Canadiens (29-36-12)
Shots: 28
Face-off %: 50.9
Power play: 1/1
Penalty minutes: 9
Hits: 35
Blocks: 15

Rangers (53-21-4)
Shots: 46
Face-off %: 58.2
Power play: 2/3
Penalty minutes: 2
Hits: 23
Blocks: 8

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Caufield (24)
2nd period: --
3rd period: Newhook (13)
OT: --
SO: --

Rangers Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Zibanejad (25)-PPG
3rd period: Kreider (38)-PPG, Panarin (46), Zibanejad (26), Lafreniere (ENG)
OT: --
SO: --

Goaltenders
MTL: Primeau (L) 8-9-2
NYR: Shesterkin (W) 34-16-2

Cole Caufield - Caufield was the most utilized forward earning 20:19 of ice time and leading the team with six shots on goal.

Martin St. Louis

"We played good hockey, but we shot ourselves in the foot a little too much. [..] We ran out of gas in the third (period.)"

Cayden Primeau

“I felt good. It's a building in which it's not easy to play, especially the day after a match, and against a very good team. I wanted to give our team the best chance to win."

The Canadiens return home to host the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night.

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