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Canadiens cut into Rangers' series lead with win

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MONTREAL

Plastered on the balcony walls of the Bell Centre — just above the nosebleed seats — are images of the great Habs of yesteryear, an illustrious group that includes legends such as Maurice (Rocket) Richard, Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur.

 

Entering Game 5 of their Eastern Conference final against the New York Rangers at the Bell Centre, perhaps the 2014 Montreal Canadiens took inspiration from the Flying Frenchmen whose photos are sprinkled throughout the building.

Rene Bourque certainly did.

Because, on this night, Bourque and the moribund Habs offence finally turned in a performance of firewagon hockey that, at least for a couple of days, allowed the Canadiens to fight another day.

Indeed, with their backs against the wall, facing elimination at the hands of the Broadway Blueshirts, Bourque’s hat trick led the Canadiens to an emotional 7-4 victory Tuesday, narrowing their deficit in this best-of-seven series to 3-2.

First, they chased star Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist out of the New York net just 28:58 into the game, beating the all-star four times. Then they chased the Rangers back to New York, where Game 6 will be played on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

This, remember, was a Canadiens team that had scored just eight goals in the previous four games of this series.

In Bourque’s case, he had only found the back of the net once in his past 10 games leading up to Tuesday’s contest.

But those struggles were forgotten in a big hurray, especially when Bell Centre workers were collecting all the chapeaux that had been tossed on to the ice after Bourque had completed his hat trick early in the third period.

“I’ve hat tricks before, but this is the biggest one of my career,” Bourque said afterward.

“Everyone definitely was ready for this game. We got a power-play goal early and that kind of helped us get going.

“We’ve been in these (elimination games) before. We knew what to expect.”

The Habs could be without defenceman Alexei Emelin in Game 6. Coach Michel Therrien said he has a “body injury,” refusing to pinpoint if it was upper or lower.

In extending the series, the Habs can be buoyed by the fact that the once-seemingly invincible Lundqvist is no longer that — at least in their minds.

Lundqvist got the hook after Montreal took a 4-1 lead. Instead of sagging, however, New York scored three times in less than seven minutes to deadlock the game at 4-4.

Thanks in part to Bourque’s offensive heroics and the goaltending of rookie Dustin Tokarski, Montreal managed to come out on top in the end.

“When they tied it, I knew we were still in the game,” Tokarski said. “You have to stay calm.”

The kid definitely did that.

As they celebrated the victory, the Habs received inspiration earlier in the day from injured goaltender Carey Price.

For the second consecutive day, Price worked out between the pipes prior to Habs practice.

On this particular instance, he was decked out in full equipment for the first time since injuring his right leg/knee in Game 1 when he was crashed into by the Rangers’ Chris Kreider.

While Therrien once again insisted that Price definitely is not available for any part of this Eastern Conference final series between the Canadiens and Rangers, the Canadiens used his rehab as a rallying point entering Game 5.

“Seeing (Price) in pads got the boys going,” forward Max Pacioretty said after the Canadiens’ morning skate.

It got the Habs going all right — all the way to New York for Game 6 on Thursday.

mike.zeisberger@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/zeisberger

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