Just when Montreal Canadiens fans were coming down from the high of beating their rivals the Boston Bruins, the New York Rangers come to town and punch them in the face and shock all of Montreal and spoil their victory ceremony. The New York Rangers not only jumped to out to 2-0 lead as a visitor but they also put Canadien’s goalie Carey Price out for the remainder of the series! Bookies say “that the Price injury was the nail in the coffin on Montreal’s season this remains to be seen.
The New York Rangers went into game one as the underdog at +121 but absolutely man handed the Montreal in the gamewith a 7-2 rout on Montreal’s home ice. The Rangers are playing inspiring hockey and goalie Hendrik Lundqvist has shut down the once potent Montreal attack. Before the Eastern Conference Finals Lundqvist had his trouble with Montreal but has seemed to have solved their once potent offense.
In game two the Canadien’s quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead to get the home town fans in the game, but that was short lived as the Rangers tied the game 17 seconds later. This seemed to absolutely deflate the Canadien’s and by the end of the 1st period they trailed 2 to 1. The Rangers scored again early in the second period on a power play to make it 3 to 1 and that’s exactly how the game ended. In the NHL playoffs what a difference a day makes is amazing in game two the teams were a pick em on Montreal’s home ice.
Game three will take place in New York on Thursday, May 22and the Rangers are favored at -172. Montreal was pretty even this year on the road and away but the Rangers played better on the road. The Canadiens must go into New York and win game three if they want to have any chance in this series. Now that the series stand 2-0 for the Rangers offshore bookmakers have them listed as a 9 to 1 favorite to win the seven game series and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadien’s diehard fans can get good value betting their team to win this year’s Stanley Cup if they do so now as they are currently +1350 to do so.
One thing is for sure and that is the Montreal hopeful will not give up on their team and will fight to the bitter end as they are not only a proud franchise but to this day they still hold the record for most Stanley Cup Championships at 23!
