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PHT Morning Skate: Habs face their biggest challenge yet

PK Subban,

PK Subban

AP

When Chicago has gained a lead in the 2014 playoffs, they’ve done a great job of closing the deal. That was not the case last night.

The Blackhawks were up 2-0 when Justin Williams got Los Angeles on the board with less than two minutes remaining in the second period. It gave the Kings a morale boost going into the third and they capitalized on that shift in momentum. By the time the night was done, Los Angeles had scored six unanswered goals.

“It turned into a disaster,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said in summary.

While Chicago regroups from that collapse, the Eastern Conference battle will resume.

Game 3: Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Rangers [Rangers lead series 2-0] (8:00 p.m. ET -- NBCSN)

New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is playing at the top of his game and he’s left the Canadiens scrambling to find anything they can grasp onto.

Montreal doesn’t have goaltender Carey Price, forward Thomas Vanek is struggling, and their former draft pick, Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, has already recorded six points in this series.

Without much else to fall back on, Canadiens coach Michel Therrien made his pitch that the Canadiens are this year’s Cinderella Story.

“When we started the season, there were a lot of people not even putting us in the playoffs. Or, if they wanted to be polite, they’d give us the eighth spot,” Therrien said.

“We caused a surprise to make the playoffs. We caused a surprise against the Tampa Bay Lightning to win in four, and we caused a bigger surprise to beat the Boston Bruins.”

They were never down by two games against Tampa Bay or Boston though and everything they’ve accomplished thus far has been thanks in large part to Price. With him gone, the team will turn to rookie Dustin Tokarski for the second straight game.

He wasn’t the problem in Game 2, but Tokarski isn’t likely to be the solution either. If Montreal wants to win this series, they have to take Lundqvist and the Rangers’ defense down a peg. And after losing two games at home, it has to happen at Madison Square Garden.

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