Quite an eventful first period between the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers.
With the series tied 2-2 and Game 5 in Montreal on Thursday, tempers were short in the opening 20 minutes. A massive scrum started in front of Henrik Lundqvist, leading to Andrew Shaw and Brendan Smith dropping the gloves in a spirited fight inside the Rangers’ zone.
More bad blood as the period ended with Shea Weber and Rick Nash getting tied up beside Carey Price.
The Habs jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the first period. Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring for Montreal, and Brendan Gallagher restored the Habs’ lead 24 seconds after a short-handed goal from Rangers forward Jesper Fast.
It certainly gave the Habs a boost when Price made an absolutely amazing left-pad save on Mats Zuccarello just 40 seconds into the game.