MONTREAL — Michael Ryder scored three times and the Montreal Canadiens staged the biggest comeback in their storied history, rallying from five goals down and beating the Rangers 6–5 in a shootout last night.

Saku Koivu beat Henrik Lundqvist with a forehand deke on Montreal’s second shootout attempt and Cristobal Huet stopped Brendan Shanahan, Chris Drury and Jaromir Jagr to the delight of the sold-out Bell Centre crowd of 21,273.

Montreal stormed back from a 5–0 deficit early in the second with five unanswered goals to tie it at 5.

Ryder scored three of four straight even-strength goals by Montreal for his third career hat trick 6:52 into the third as the Canadiens closed to within 5–4.

Alex Kovalev, who scored Montreal’s third goal 9 seconds before Ryder’s third goal, rolled onto his back amid a wild ovation after he tied it with his team-leading 29th goal at 15:38.

Shanahan scored twice to reach 20 goals for the 19th straight season and Jagr had four assists to help stake the Rangers to their big lead.

Shanahan scored New York’s third goal of the first period and the first of two power-play goals 28 seconds apart by the Rangers early in the second to extend the streak that he began in 1988-89 with 22 goals in his second season with New Jersey.

Ryder drew Montreal within 5–1 with his 10th goal at 8:28 before cutting the lead to three with his second in a row at 12:52.

The Canadiens struck for two goals 9 seconds apart to cut the lead to 5–4 just 6:52 into the third.

Kovalev scored his 28th goal 6:43 into the third to make it 5–3. Ryder brought the crowd to its feet once again with his third goal of the game for his first hat trick since April 7.