Rangers top Canadiens 2-1; series tied 2-2

By SIMMI BUTTAR
AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Rick Nash and Jesper Fast scored, Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves and the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Tuesday night to even their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.

New York's win also ended a six-game losing streak at home in the playoffs going back to the 2015 Eastern Conference Final.

Torrey Mitchell scored for Montreal and Carey Price made 30 saves.

Game 5 is Thursday night in Montreal before the series returns to Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

The Rangers, who gave up the tying goal with 18 seconds left in the third period of Game 2 before losing in overtime, stopped Montreal in the final minutes in this one.

After a lackluster performance in a 3-1 loss in Game 3, the Rangers came out aggressive early in Game 4.

Lundqvist kept it scoreless as he stopped Andrew Shaw on a breakaway midway through the first period.

About a minute later, Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov misplayed the puck along the boards and Fast grabbed the loose puck and slid it through the legs of Price for an unassisted goal at 11:39 to open the scoring.

The Canadiens tied it late in the period. Alexander Radulov eluded the check of Brady Skjei near the Rangers' bench and passed the puck to Mitchell, who started a 2-on-1 break with Shea Weber and Mitchell scored into an open net with 1:23 remaining. Radulov earned his fourth assist of the series on the play.

The Rangers controlled the play for most of the second period as the Canadiens had only one shot on goal in the first 11 minutes.

Nash gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead early in the second. Ryan McDonagh kept the puck in the zone and sent a nice pass to Nash near the front of the net and he slipped a backhand past Price at 4:28 for his second of the series.

NOTES: Looking to spark the offense, Pavel Buchnevich, who was a healthy scratch for the first three games of this series, was in the lineup for Rangers. Defenseman Nick Holden was also in the lineup. Tanner Glass, who scored in Game 1, and Kevin Klein were among the scratches. ... The Rangers are 0 for 12 on the power play in the series. ... The Rangers' previous home playoff game win was in Game 1 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Final against Tampa Bay.