NEW YORK — Rick Nash and Jesper Fast scored, Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves and the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Tuesday night to even their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.
New York’s win also ended a six-game losing streak at home in the playoffs going back to the 2015 Eastern Conference Final.
Torrey Mitchell scored for Montreal and Carey Price made 30 saves.
Game 5 is Thursday night in Montreal before the series returns to Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
The Rangers, who gave up the tying goal with 18 seconds left in the third period of Game 2 before losing in overtime, stopped Montreal in the final minutes in this one.
After a lackluster performance in a 3-1 loss in Game 3, the Rangers came out aggressive early in Game 4.
Lundqvist kept it scoreless as he stopped Andrew Shaw on a breakaway midway through the first period.
About a minute later, Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov misplayed the puck along the boards and Fast grabbed the loose puck and slid it through the legs of Price for an unassisted goal at 11:39 to open the scoring.
The Canadiens tied it late in the period. Alexander Radulov eluded the check of Brady Skjei near the Rangers’ bench and passed the puck to Mitchell, who started a 2-on-1 break with Shea Weber and Mitchell scored into an open net with 1:23 remaining. Radulov earned his fourth assist of the series on the play.
The Rangers controlled the play for most of the second period as the Canadiens had only one shot on goal in the first 11 minutes.
Nash gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead early in the second. Ryan McDonagh kept the puck in the zone and sent a nice pass to Nash near the front of the net and he slipped a backhand past Price at 4:28 for his second of the series.
BLUE JACKETS 5, PENGUINS 4
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Markus Nutivaara, William Karlsson and Boone Jenner each had a goal and an assist and the Columbus Blue Jackets held on to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, avoiding a sweep in the best-of-seven playoff series.
Jack Johnson and Josh Anderson also scored for the Blue Jackets, who were able to outlast the Penguins when they pushed back hard in the second and third periods and then got a short-handed goal from Jake Guenztel with 27 seconds left in the game.
Sergei Bobrovsky had 27 saves to help the Blue Jackets get their first playoff win in three years and their first-ever in regulation.
The Penguins now lead 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, which returns to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Thursday night.
Patric Hornqvist, Ron Hainsey and Tom Kuhnhackl also scored for Pittsburgh, and Marc-Andre Fleury had 29 saves.
MONDAY’S LATE GAMES
DUCKS 5, FLAMES 4, OT
CALGARY, Alberta — Corey Perry scored 1:30 into overtime and the Anaheim Ducks rallied from three goals down to take a 3-0 series lead in the first-round series.
Perry’s sharp-angled shot deflected off several players and past Flames goalie Brian Elliott.
Shea Theodore had two goals, Nate Thompson had a goal and two assists, and Nick Ritchie also scored for the Ducks. Rickard Rakell, Kevin Bieksa and Hampus Lindholm each had two assists.
John Gibson gave up four goals on 16 shots before he was replaced by Jonathan Bernier in the second period. Bernier stopped all 16 shots he faced. Sean Monahan had a goal and an assist, and Kris Versteeg, Sam Bennett and Michael Stone also scored for Calgary. Mikael Backlund and T.J. Brodie each had two assists, and Elliott finished with 22 saves.
Game 4 is Wednesday night.
PREDATORS 3,
BLACKHAWKS 2, OT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kevin Fiala scored on a backhander 16:44 into overtime, and the Nashville Predators rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the third period to push the Blackhawks to the brink of elimination.
Filip Forsberg scored twice in the third period to force overtime. Pekka Rinne made 34 saves, even with his franchise playoff scoreless streak ending early in the second period at 141 minutes, 5 seconds.
Game 4 is Thursday night in Nashville. Dennis Rasmussen and Patrick Kane each scored the first goals this series for the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed. But the Blackhawks, winners of three Stanley Cup titles in the past seven years, now trail 0-3 for the first time since the 2011 quarterfinals. They lost that series in seven games to Vancouver.