MONTREAL — As is the case with Rangers season as a whole, it’s not about how you start but how you finish.

The Blueshirts recovered from a sluggish opening five minutes to take a 4-3 win over the Canadiens on Saturday night, snapping a three-game losing skid as they head back to Madison Square Garden for a two-game home stand.

A three-goal third period propelled the Rangers to victory, which was a welcome development after the team was limited to a single goal in their previous three losses.

It was as if the Rangers blinked and they were trailing 2-0 Saturday night.

The Canadiens needed all of 3:42 seconds to build the two-goal lead, which was fueled by their speed, energy and quick puck decisions.

J.T. Miller (8) celebrates his goal with teammates Alexis Lafrenière (13) and Mika Zibanejad (93) during the third period of the Rangers’ 4-3 road win over the Canadiens on Oct. 18, 2025. NHLI via Getty Images

A bad bounce off of Matthew Robertson, who was attempting to keep the puck in the offensive zone, sprung Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovský on an odd-man rush for the Habs first goal.

Slafkovský banged it home to open the scoring just over a minute and a half into the game.

Charged with two early penalties, the Rangers gave up a power-play goal on their very first penalty kill of the night. Nick Suzuki cashed in on a wide-open net after a circle-to-circle feed from Ivan Demidov.

The Rangers hadn’t even registered a single shot on goal yet.

A Josh Anderson holding penalty gave the visitors their first man-advantage opportunity, which Mika Zibanejad capitalized on with a one-timer from the faceoff circle to cut Montreal’s lead in half. It counted as his 109th power-play score with the Rangers to surpass Rod Gilbert for third most in franchise history.

Matthew Robertson celebrates with teammates after scoring a third-period goal in the Rangers’ road win over the Canadiens. NHLI via Getty Images

Sam Carrick later dropped the gloves with Arber Xhekaj at the end of the second period, and the veteran center more than held his own against the Canadiens enforcer.

The Rangers seemed to have some extra gas in the tank afterward.

Juraj Slafkovský (20) scores a goal on Jonathan Quick during the first period of the Rangers’ road win over the Canadiens. NHLI via Getty Images

Mika Zibanejad (not pictured) scores a goal on Sam Montembeault (35) during the first period of the Rangers’ road win over the Canadiens. Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

As their carried-over power play expired early in the third period, J.T. Miller redirected an Adam Fox shot past Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault to even the score at 2-2.

Rookie defenseman Robertson then notched his first NHL goal off a shot from the top of the zone to put the Rangers on top.

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The Rangers have needed much more offense from their top six to start the season, but they certainly showed up Saturday night.

Zibanejad dished to Artemi Panarin in transition before the star Russian wing whipped it home for his first goal of the season and the 4-2 lead.