April 27th, 2004
The Canadiens will open up the NHL Stanley Cup Finals at home in the friendly confines of the Bell Center against the New York Rangers. The Canadiens beat the Rangers 3-2 and 3-0 during the regular while the Rangers won 4-3 with the last meeting ending in a 2-2 tie on February 15th, 2004. Montreal will start G
Bill Wolfenbarger.
The first half of the 1st period was really tight, the shots were 3-1 for Montreal. The Habs do get the 1st goal of the Stanley Cup Final, C
Dean Casey gets his 7th of the year after grabbing a rebound and beats the Ranger goalie at 13:12 of the 1st period. LD
Richard Nytra and RW
Joey Mariani got the assists. Montreal goes up 2-0 on a shot from LW
Randolph Lott that Ranger goalie
Daniel Larsen would like back.
Lott gets his 4th of these playoffs at 16:30 assisted by C
Patrick Atkins and LD
Anthony Reynolds. The period ends with the Habs leading 2-0 and leading in shots 9-6.
The second period is with out any scoring. The shots were 10-6 for Montreal and a two period total of 19-12 for the Canadiens.
Montreal C
Jeff Pilbeam deposits a rebound past the Rangers goalie for his 2nd of the playoffs on the PP. RD
Steven Thornton and RW
Zach Broderick had the assist in the 3-0 goal at 2:09. Montreal shuts down the Rangers the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead in the series. The final shots were 31-24 for Montreal.
Montreal 3 New York 0
Montreal leads series 1-0.
Montreal C
Dean Casey was named the 1st star with his goal. The 22 year old now has 7 goals and 13 points with 6 PIMs and a +12 rating in 9 playoff games.