Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! In a game they once trailed 5-0, the Montreal Canadiens rallied from that deficit for the first time in their proud history to comeback and defeat the New York Rangers 6-5 in a shootout before an electric capacity home crowd of better than 21 K.

This was one of the wackiest games you’ll ever see. How unpredictable was it? It started when Ranger rookie Brandon Dubinsky and Sean Avery got their team on the board with goals 14 seconds apart.

With the momentum theirs, Brendan Shanahan’s one-timer blast off a nifty Jaromir Jagr setup with Alex Kovalev in the box made it a three-goal lead sending rookie netminder Carey Price to an early shower.

When Shanahan redirected his second of the night off a Paul Mara shot pass to make it 19 consecutive seasons with at least 20 goals, it looked like the rout was on. Especially when Chris Drury later also scored on the back end of a double minor penalty for his 20th popping one top shelf.

But a resurgent Habs team rallied thanks to a couple of strong shifts by their fourth line resulting in a couple of Michael Ryder tallies before the second period was done.

Three goals with a period left was no longer insurmountable. Not with the kind of speed, aggressive attack and grinding they had. Continuing to batter the Rangers, they kept getting pucks in and having great shifts resulting in chances. When Kovalev notched his first of the night off an Andrei Markov pass, suddenly it was 5-3.

They weren’t done. Just nine seconds later, another Ryder shot ricocheted off Mark Streit’s leg past a stunned Henrik Lundqvist. They were within one with over 13:00 to play. Could the Blueshirts hang on for dear life? The answer was a resounding no thanks to Kovalev, who whipped a one-timer via Montreal’s No.1 ranked power play past Lundqvist for his 29th. It was shot so hard and accurately that the ex-Blueshirt fell over before celebrating with teammates.

The OT was almost all Habs as well with the exception of one solid Scott Gomez chance but the playmaking pivot couldn’t redirect a Shanny slap pass past Cristobal Huet instead pushing the puck wide.

And so, this topsy turvy edge of your seat thriller needed a shootout to decide the outcome. Not surprisingly, Les Habitants prevailed thanks to a breathtaking two deke forehand finish by captain Saku Koivu. Jagr’s backhand deke missed everything and the Habs celebrated like they’d won a Stanley Cup.

Why not? It’s not every night a team comes back from that kind of deficit. Never in their history had they and never had the Rangers ever blown a five-goal lead to lose.

The history book was re-written thanks to a great performance by the Canadiens who fed off their rabid fans.

I’ve been talking up this team for a while and for good reason as it was on display allowing them to keep pace with Ottawa for tops in the conference.

Can you think of any other team who would’ve been able to pull that out? I can’t.

Kudos to them. For the Rangers, it’s back to the drawing board wondering how the heck could they have allowed this to actually happen. Oh. The Habs are good. Better than them. They might only trail the Habs by seven points in the standings but it’s for good reason.

This was the Habs’ night. Let’s leave it at that.

For more on this exciting game and the entire Eastern playoff picture, please refer to our BONY blog game recap. 

More HB reaction: This game had it all. Quick end-to-end action. Plenty of goals along with stuff you just don’t see. It’s rare that teams score so quickly as these two teams did in this game. It’s hard to score 14 seconds apart let alone a ridiculous nine which the Habs pulled off to make their comeback chances realistic.

Even more, I loved the feistiness. It felt like a playoff game. You had nastiness. There was Dubinsky and Mike Komisarek getting together for a scrap which the nasty Montreal blueliner easily took. The goalies had to be on their toes. It was that on your edge. This was one of the most exciting games I’ve ever seen. I’d love to see these teams have a playoff series rematch. Preferably in the second or third round. Just wait and see.

Dubi also went for a Gordie Howe hat trick scoring and setting up the first couple of goals. The former second rounder in 2004 is going to be the Rangers’ next home grown star. It’s a rarity for them to produce any forwards. Well, he’s the exception because he has all the tools to be a really good second line center. Playing with Jagr and pest Sean Avery hasn’t hurt. He has really played well.

The Habs got their only win tonight in the four-game season series. They’re tied with the Sens with 75 points- two more than both the Devils and Pens, who each lead the Atlantic.

The Rangers are sixth with 68 points- two better than both the Bruins and Flyers. With so many teams in this wild race, it’s going to be interesting to see which teams are buyers at the deadline. Who will sell? Not Mortimer.