MONTREAL — It was the smallest smile and a nod in a crowded elevator.
In the immediate aftermath of what had just happened, this was not the time for Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton to celebrate. But he did have an appropriate answer when asked if he saw this coming, a dramatic and utterly unpredictable 3-2 overtime win over the Canadiens in Game 5 of their opening-round series Thursday night at Bell Centre, with Mika Zibanejad playing the role of hero with the game-winner 14:22 into the extra frame.
“Oh, well, ” Gorton said, “I guess you never know.”
Who could have known this was coming, because for so much of the night, the Rangers were down — but never out. For so much of the night, they looked like the team that had been often stymied by this hard-nosed opposition, shutting down their speed and transition game with a physicality that had almost no answer. For so much of the night, they seemed destined to go back to New York with backs against the wall.
Now? Now they go back with a 3-2 advantage in the best-of-seven series, a chance on their home ice to clinch a berth into the second round with Game 6 on Saturday night at the Garden.
“The series goes back and forth, you just need to take it game-by-game. We always talk about it,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, again outstanding in making 34 saves. “Just enjoy this tonight, and then focus on the next game, [play] like it’s the last game you’ll ever play. You need to put in everything you’ve got in every game. And I think the last two games, we’ve done that.”
The effort was there, but the execution was severely different from Game 4, when the Rangers got back into this series with their most complete team-wide performance. Instead, they were hanging on to dear life in this one when Montreal captain Max Pacioretty came barreling in on a breakaway with just over seven minutes left in a 2-2 game.
Lundqvist made the save, and the Rangers finally took the momentum given to them by the goaltender.
“He had a few breakaways over the years up here against me,” Lundqvist said. “He has a good shot. You just try to be patient and read where he was going. After that, we gained some momentum.”
That they did, with Chris Kreider getting a golden opportunity just under 10 minutes into the overtime that he whiffed on, and soon thereafter, another great chance missed when Mats Zuccarello couldn’t handle a centering feed from behind by Ryan McDonagh.
But then Kreider came bounding over the blue line with a burst of speed, the puck bounced across the slot to a waiting Zibanejad, who buried one high over a sprawled out Carey Price, beginning a celebration that everyone will remember — except maybe the man who scored.
“I just tried to whack it, and when I saw it go in, I just blacked out,” Zibanejad said. “I can’t remember much after that.”
Well, Zibanejad will remember wearing the road Broadway Hat, traditional black, in the locker room afterward. And his team will need to remember what happened in the first 40 minutes, trying to correct the mistakes with and without the puck that gave Montreal all the momentum.
The Canadiens went up at 12:07 of the first when rookie Artturi Lehkonen abused Marc Staal for a whole shift and scored on a wraparound. Then a Jesper Fast short-handed goal was negated by a power-play goal just 24 seconds later from Brendan Gallagher, giving the Habs a 2-1 lead.
But Rick Nash again did his part, a power move off the goal line to set up Brady Skjei’s rebound tally with 1:32 remaining in the second, tying the game 2-2. That was just the way it would stay until overtime, when a bounce went the Rangers way, a bit of good fortune the Blueshirts thought they worked for.
“It’s like a summary of playoff hockey there in overtime — it’s not going to be a perfectly clean, tic-tac-toe play,” defenseman Dan Girardi said. “It’s going to be something off a stick or a body in front. Definitely a great feeling.”