MONTREAL — Nearly half the game had passed before the Rangers found their game Saturday night.
But once they did, the Canadiens never held back as the Blueshirts forced overtime and got one point before Cole Caufield scored in the shootout and the home team won 4-3. It was impossible.
The Rangers had to settle for one point, missing out on a chance to take sole possession of first place in the NHL. Instead, they ended up in a three-way tie for the No. 1 spot.
The Rangers came on strong for the first 25 minutes or so of the game and fell into a 3-0 hole at the 2:39 mark of the second period.
Montreal delivered a one-two punch 1 minute and 30 seconds apart, with Sean Monaghan and Joel Armia scoring in the center slot.
The Bell Center crowd confidently sang, “Ole, ole, ole.”
But the visitors quickly silenced the stands after the Rangers got excited with Chris Kreider's hook penalty.
Vincent Trocheck deflected Erik Gustafsson's shot past Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeau. The Rangers made 17 saves in the overnight period alone, making 47 saves.
Montembeault was unbeatable in the shootout, stopping Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere.
The tide had officially turned and Rangers rode it right back into the game.
Trocheck, who won a faceoff draw less than five minutes later, pushed the puck forward and dished to Panarin without hesitation.
Panarin also slid to the right toward the net, giving the Russian star winger a clear shot for his 25th goal of the season, making the score 3-2.
The tying goal came from Adam Fox, who broke his 19-game goal streak with a snap shot from the top of the zone at 9:30 of the third period.
At that point, blue-clad fans scattered throughout the arena broke out into chants of their own song, “Let's Go Rangers.”
Jonathan Quick helped stabilize the Rangers after Montreal appeared to take the game ahead down the stretch. In the loss, Quick made 27 saves and fell to 9-2-2.
The Canadiens came into the game with twice as much intensity as the Rangers, who gave up the lead for the second time in the past three games.
After Kaiden Guhl was called for tripping Zibanejad at 7:23, the Rangers' No. 1 power play failed to break through on Montreal's penultimate penalty despite having too much zone time. There wasn't.
The Habs gained momentum from there, moving into 5-on-5 play.
Rangers failed to clear, leading to Brendan Gallagher's first goal in 25 games.
