Blues pull away from Rangers, get victory in Montgomery’s 1st game as coach

NEW YORK — Jim Montgomery won his first game as the St. Louis Blues coach, 5-2 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

The Blues players gave Montgomery a game puck afterward in honor of his first win, which came one day after he was hired to replace Drew Bannister and six days since he was fired by the Boston Bruins.

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“I loved our effort,” Montgomery said. “Our execution offensively was really good. We have some areas to improve upon, but just the effort and how hard they played for each other to block shots, the togetherness at the end of the second [period], how we stuck up for each other. That’s Blues hockey. That’s blue-collar hockey.”

Zack Bolduc scored his first two goals of the season, Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist, Dylan Holloway had two assists, and Joel Hofer made 27 saves for the Blues (10-12-1), who had two wins in their previous nine games.

They were averaging 2.36 goals per game coming into the game.

“It felt like something,” Schenn said. “It felt like we were having fun out there and that’s the main part. We weren’t sitting back. We played with energy tonight. We played with the puck. It wasn’t just a couple chances we were able to generate. It was fun.”

Will Cuylle scored New York’s goals, Brett Berard had an assist in his NHL debut, and Igor Shesterkin made 38 saves for the Rangers (12-7-1), who have lost three games in a row, allowing 40 or more shots on goal in all three.

“We need to be better,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Everybody needs to be better. It’s not good enough what we’re doing. I don’t think anybody is going to sit here and say it was good enough. No matter what question you want to ask, it’s got to be better. There’s three games in a row that we’re playing to a level and a standard that’s not us. Not what we work to be, not what we want to be, so it’s got to get better. Everybody’s got to get better.”

Cuylle gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 8:47 of the first period. Kaapo Kakko‘s shot from the left point deflected off his left skate and went through Hofer’s five-hole.

Jordan Kyrou tied it 1-1 at 11:45. Schenn took the puck from Jacob Trouba on the forecheck, went around the net and found Kyrou between the circles for a one-timer.

“We were able to get to pucks and able to get on the forecheck with five guys,” Schenn said. “That’s part of my game. I feel when I engage and be physical and play with passion, focus on that and little things come out of the game.”

Bolduc’s first goal at 4:30 of the second period gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead. He found the puck loose in the slot with Shesterkin reaching for it and put it in.

Cuylle’s second goal made it 2-2 at 7:20. Hofer lost his stick on Berard’s wraparound, and the puck kicked off of it and went into the right circle to Mika Zibanejad, who tapped a pass to Cuylle cutting through the left circle. He scored before jumping into the cage.

The Rangers generated zone time and some chances late in the second period, which ended with a skirmish in the corner of St. Louis’ defensive zone and Shesterkin and Hofer nearly squaring off at center ice.

The third period started 4-on-4 with Cuylle and Jake Neighbours both in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties at the end of the second.

The Blues took advantage of the extra room. Schenn scored a breakaway goal at 1:12 to give them a 3-2 lead.

Three of the four Rangers players on the ice, including defenseman Zac Jones, were low in the offensive zone when the puck came out to Scott Perunovich on the right side. He found Schenn flying the zone behind the Rangers’ defense.

“We’ve got a lot of guys with really good offensive hockey sense and if we are committed to checking like we were the offense is going to come,” Montgomery said. “We were really connected.”

The Rangers did not have much pushback, generating seven shots on goal in the third period.

“We need more of a response because it’s not good enough,” Laviolette said. “It wasn’t good enough tonight. When something like that happens there’s got to be a difference in the way we play the game, the attack we go on. That was missing.”

Bolduc scored at 8:25 to make it 4-2. He found the puck between the circles off a rebound from a blocked shot and scored with a shot into the top right corner.

“We have to stop it somehow,” Rangers forward Artemi Panarin said. “We’re professionals. Everyone has that experience when things are not going well in your days. We’ve got to wake up tomorrow, fix our mistakes and be ready for Carolina [on Wednesday].”

Pavel Buchnevich‘s empty-net goal at 17:15 made the 5-2 final.

“There’s always life and energy when any team makes an in-season coaching change and tonight it showed,” Schenn said. “Now it’s our job to keep on building with that.”

NOTES: The Blues won at Madison Square Garden for the first time since March 3, 2020. … The Rangers lost for the first time this season when scoring the first goal (10-1-0). … Cuylle, who had his first multi-goal NHL game, leads New York with nine even-strength goals.