NHL

Canadiens’ Dustin Tokarski valiant in defeat

In the end, Montreal wasn’t left questioning its goaltending, despite having an untested rookie in net for most of the Eastern Conference final.

Instead, the Canadiens knew Dustin Tokarski actually helped keep them in the series and in the decisive 1-0 Game 6 loss to the Rangers at the Garden. And it was a lack of offense that ended up dooming them.

“He bailed us out a bunch of times,” Max Pacioretty said. “It’s not easy to fill Carey Price’s shoes, but he did all he could.The whole game was frustrating. … We didn’t generate enough offense at all and that was the difference.”

Henrik Lundqvist was asked to make only 18 saves while Tokarski turned away 31.

Tokarski stopped chance after chance, but couldn’t get in front of Dominic Moore’s point-blank shot at 18:07 of the second period, which gave the Rangers the lead and helped propel them into the Stanley Cup final.

Tokarski had been forced to play Game 2 after Price was lost for the series following a collision with Chris Kreider in the series opener. Though the injury seemed to spell the end for the Habs, the rookie gave the Rangers all they could handle.

That was true again Thursday, when the Blueshirts controlled the game for much of the first period, outshooting the Canadiens 11-1 early on. It was an early indication of how his teammates would sleepwalk through most of the match.

“They played a perfect defensive game,” Montreal head coach Michel Therrien said of the Rangers.

Playing in a hostile building after a shaky effort in Game 5, when an uncharacteristically bad performance from Lundqvist overshadowed Tokarski’s tough game, the rookie rebounded and played as well as he had all series.

Considering the 24-year-old appeared in just eight NHL games before this series, Tokarski exceeded any expectations the Canadiens could have had for him when Price went down and regular backup Peter Budaj flopped in his place.

“Their goaltender played really well,” said P.K. Subban, who earlier in the series called Lundqvist “lucky.” “He did a lot of good things to keep their team in the game and that’s what you need. I thought our goaltender did the same.One bounce, that’s all it takes.”

Tokarski survived considerable action in front of him in the first, when it appeared Kreider might be able to stuff one in. Later, Derek Stepan fired a shot that glanced off Tokarski and then hit the post.

Finally, though, the Rangers broke through and the Canadiens couldn’t come up with a tying goal to extend the game – or the series.

“He played unbelievable,” Pacioretty said. “If he didn’t make a name for himself the first couple of games, tonight he really did. He’s a winner.”