Rene Bourque posted the first post-season hat-trick of his career on Tuesday as Montreal stayed alive in the NHL play-offs with a 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers.
The Canadiens fended off elimination in the Eastern Conference final, closing the gap in the best-of-seven series to three-games-to-two.
Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk added a goal and assist each for the Canadiens, who received additional goals from Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais.
Andrei Markov added three assists, Lars Eller and Dale Weise assisted on a pair of scores apiece, while goalie Dustin Tokarski stopped 23 shots in the victory.
Derek Stepan, playing with a broken jaw, scored a pair of goals for the Rangers, who battled back from a 4-1 deficit but couldn't close it out.
They will get another chance to book a Stanley Cup finals berth when they host game six on Thursday.
The winners of the series will face either the reigning champions Chicago Blackhawks or Los Angeles Kings for the NHL crown.
Chris Kreider contributed a goal and three assists and Rick Nash also scored for New York.
Cam Talbot surrendered two goals on eight shots in relief of starting Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who exited after yielding four goals on 19 chances.
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