Music: {allcanada} Rangers rout Canadiens in Eastern Final Game 1

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MONTREAL -- The New York Rangers wiped away any nightmarish thoughts they might have had about Bell Centre and won Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final in the process.

Henrik Lundqvist, who could have easily called the arena his personal house of horrors before Saturday, made 20 saves, and seven Rangers scored in a 7-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens.

New York scored two goals in the first 6:27, two in the final 61 seconds of the second period, and three power-play goals in the first 4:36 of the third. It's the first time the Rangers scored seven goals in a Stanley Cup Playoff game since April 17, 2007, when they defeated the Atlanta Thrashers 7-0.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Monday at Bell Centre (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

Canadiens starting goalie Carey Price did not play the third period after giving up four goals on 20 shots in two periods. It's unclear if he was replaced by Peter Budaj because Montreal trailed 4-1 to start the third, or because of an injury.

Price was in pain after Rangers forward Chris Kreider lost his balance and went barreling into the goalie's right knee with his skates ahead of him at 3:15 of the second period. Price stayed in the game after getting some attention from the trainer. He had a 2.15 goals-against average and .926 save percentage in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games coming into Saturday.

Lundqvist was impressive in the first two rounds with a 1.99 GAA and .931 save percentage, but the win Saturday was his first at Bell Centre since March 17, 2009. He hadn't played here since Jan. 15, 2012, and he was 0-3-1 with a 4.63 GAA and .862 save percentage in his previous four appearances in Montreal.

Rangers forward Rick Nash scored a power-play goal to make it 7-1 at 4:36 of the third period. He hadn't scored in his previous 15 games, the longest goal drought of his NHL career.

Kreider, Martin St. Louis, Mats Zuccarello, Brad Richards, Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan each scored a goal.

McDonagh added three assists to tie a Rangers playoff record for most points in a game by a defenseman (four). Brian Leetch was the most recent to do it, June 7, 1994 against the Vancouver Canucks, the last time the Rangers played in the Stanley Cup Final.

Zuccarello and Dominic Moore each had two assists; Nash, Kreider and Stepan each had one.

Rene Bourque and Lars Eller scored for the Canadiens.

St. Louis and Zuccarello gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead 6:27 into the game. The goals matched the Rangers' output in their previous seven games at Bell Centre. Four goals in two periods matched their output in their past eight games here.

The Canadiens were challenging to erase the deficit with a strong start to the second period, but things went haywire.

Montreal made it 2-1 when Bourque scored his fifth goal of the playoffs, first in seven games, at 12:38, but the Rangers rallied with a strong penalty kill and two goals before the period ended.

New York held Montreal without a shot while Brian Boyle served his minor for holding at P.K. Subban at 15:53. Kreider scored off the rush with a blocker-side shot past Price with 1:01 to go, and Richards scored with a shot from the goal line to the left of Price with 12 seconds left.

Budaj started the third period and gave up power-play goals to McDonagh, Stepan and Nash. Stepan's goal was a 5-on-3 with Max Pacioretty and Brandon Prust in the penalty box.

Prust, a former Rangers player, was called for slashing Kreider then an unsportsmanlike conduct for complaining to the officials. He also received a 10-minute misconduct.

With the Rangers holding a 2-0 lead early in the second period, Subban tried to will his team back into the game. He went on a weaving end-to-end rush only to lose the puck on his backhand as he got near the left post. McDonagh failed to clear the zone and Subban had another look, this time alone from the right hash mark, but Lundqvist robbed him with a glove save at 6:45.

Lundqvist also used his glove to snare and hold Pacioretty's hard shot off the rush from the left circle at 10:45.

Moore was thrust into more action after Rangers center Derick Brassard left the game early in the first period with an apparent upper-body injury, likely related to his shoulder. Brassard was hit with a shoulder-to-shoulder check by Canadiens defenseman Mike Weaver at 3:03 of the first period; he played two shifts totaling 35 seconds.

Moore made good on his ice time with backhand passes for assists on each of New York's first two goals.

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