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Shanahan's overtime goal lifts Rangers over Canadiens

Dec 31, 2007 - 4:29 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Brendan Shanahan has 641 career goals, so coach Tom Renney was more than willing to let him take a chance in overtime.

Shanahan rewarded Renney by scoring the game-winner in overtime as the Rangers rallied for a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night

Shanahan moved past Dave Andreychuk into sole possession of 11th on the all-time list. His breakaway goal was also his second overtime tally in three weeks and gave the Rangers a three-game winning streak heading into a three-game trip through Western Canada.

"I think a lot of is skill and experience and recognizing how things could unfold," Renney said. "There's a bit of risk-taking but you have to trust yourself with you own judgment and certainly he does that.

"As far as as Brendan is concerned, he knows where the game is going, where the play is going. That's what great players do."

It also came on a night in which the Rangers blew a pair of one-goal leads, had just one shot in the second period and also had a goal taken away when defenseman Fedor Tyutin's shot deflected off the crossbar with 6:52 left in regulation.

That near-miss seemed to get the Rangers going even further as they tied it with 5:51 left when Drury put home a loose puck. Drury also factored in the deciding play after defenseman Dan Girardi forced a turnover in the neutral zone by Montreal defenseman Roman Hamrlik.

After the turnover, Drury struggled to maintain possession but managed to spot Shanahan alone on a breakaway. As soon as Shanahan took the outlet pass and with Hamrlik about to catch up to him, he fired a 15-foot wrist shot over Cristobal Huet.

"There was a turnover at our blue line," Shanahan said. "I turned up the ice. At first, I thought maybe we would have a 2-on-1 but I didn't see anybody between me and the net. (Drury) just laid it over for me and let me walk into it. I could kind of feel Hamrlik coming up on me from behind trying to get it from me real quickly."

"I knew he had a step," Drury said. "It was kind of a quick thing. I knew if I put it in the area, that he'd definitely have a step on the guy."

While the Rangers knew that Shanahan had the speed in his favor, Huet admitted he was not quick enough to react.

"The OT goal, I think it was a quick shot," Huet said. "I tried to challenge him. I knew he was going to shoot there but he (made) a quick shot."

Before Drury and Shanahan completed New York's second straight comeback win on home ice, the Rangers had problems against the line of Andrei Kostitsyn, former Ranger Alexei Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec, who combined for three goals and five assists.

Kostitsyn tied a career high with three points and scored a pair of power-play goals that tied the contest. His second goal came less than three minutes before Plekanec put Montreal in front.

Plekanec's 12th goal appeared like it was going to send the small but vocal group of Montreal fans home happy.

"There's some pluses and some minuses," Kovalev said. "The plus is we come off really good from the road trip. We get five points out of six but definitely it's hard to accept a loss like that when you outplay the other team."

Before Montreal came back in the second, the Rangers opened a 2-1 lead as Scott Gomez extended his points streak to a career-high 12 games by setting up goals from Girardi and captain Jaromir Jagr.

Jagr's wrister from the low slot came just 17 seconds after Kostitsyn scored Montreal's first goal. Jagr's fourth in three games following a 10-game drought stood up until Kostitsyn finished off a nice passing play with Plekanec and Kovalev.

Kovalev also drew the penalty that led to Plekanec's score during a delayed whistle. After that, the Canadiens gave the Rangers a power play early in the third and had just four shots the rest of the night.

"We are disappointed that we lost a point," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "I thought we were there right to the end. We had chances to put it away when it was 3-2 and we couldn't do it."

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 18 saves, including one on Kovalev early in overtime.

Huet made 17 saves for Montreal.