The NHL playoffs are back and the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens are playing game 2 of their eastern conference finals series on Monday night from the Bell Centre and it comes with NY up 1-0 in the series after the amazing play from the team in the first game and now Carey Price is out and that means Henrik Lundqvist has to keep his game up as the best goalie in the league for the Blue Shirts.
The Rangers come into the game after scoring seven goals in the first matchup and now they have the chance to take a 2-0 lead on the road after winning game 1 and emotions will continue to run high for the team. The Rangers have rallied behind Martin St. Louis and now after going to the funeral for his mother on Sunday, they have even more emotion and so far that has worked well for them and now they don't have to worry about Price either. The injury for Price came on a tough play by Chris Kreider, as he was knocked into Price on a breakaway and now he will be out for this series.
The Rangers need to take advantage of playing against a backup and now this could be one of the most lopsided goalie matchups ever, as Henrik Lundqvist is considered to be one of the best in hockey if not the best. The Rangers got goals from seen different players in the first game and they scored three on the power play after dealing with some major special teams struggles earlier in the playoffs and now they are in control of the series. The team can't afford a letdown and with Price on the mend they have no excuse not to win this series to advance to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 20 years.
Rick Nash scored his first goal of the playoffs and that could be a sign of things to come for the Rangers, as he is a player that feeds off of results and he could be getting hot at just the right time. The Rangers are into the east finals for the second time in three seasons, but this time the team was not expected to be there and that could be one reason why they have continued to play so well. The team won over the Flyers in seven games in a hard fought series and then beat the Penguins in seven games after coming back from being down 3-1.
The Rangers have trouble in Game 2s, as they lost to the Flyers after being up 1-0 and the same happened with the Penguins after winning in overtime. The team now will try and go up 2-0 on Montreal before heading back to NY and the next game will be at Madison Square Garden and that comes on Thursday after a slight break. The Rangers have needed the rest and their three days off before Game 1 was huge after they played nine games in 15 nights over two different series and that included two back to back schedules. The two teams now meet on Monday for Game 2 at 8 pm on NBC Sports.
Check here for the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens live coverage from the NHL playoffs.