New York Rangers Host Montreal After Thursday Night Heroics

After some late game heroics against the Dallas Stars, the Rangers will host the Montreal Canadiens in an original-six matchup (5:00 P.M. on MSG).

Rangers	NHL Rankings	Canadiens
24-12-7	Record	17-23-3
11^th	NHL Standing Rank	27^th
14^th	GF/PG	30^th
7^th	GA/PG	29^th
15^th	PP%	30^th
13^th	PK%	23^rd

Previous Game

The Blueshirts are coming off a real high note as they fought back against the Dallas Stars. The Rangers found themselves trailing 1-0 entering the third period. New York was desperate to tie the game, but things were trending toward a Jake Oettinger shutout. On the final rush of the game with the seconds ticking off, K’Andre Miller would see a slap shot blocked and would just put a shot on net that would beat Oettinger low and tie the game with less than a second to go.

“My mom texted me today,” said Miller. “She was giving me a lot of motivation. So, it’s pretty easy for myself to focus up for these types of games when I have support like that.”

Madison Square Garden was sent into a frenzy as the goal came with .9 of a second remaining in the game. In overtime, Adam Fox’s patience on a net front scramble would prove to be the difference as the Rangers completed an epic late game comeback.

Igor Shesterkin made 24 saves on 25 shots including some timely saves to keep the Rangers in the game.

Chris Kreider was out for the Blueshirts with an upper-body injury. Alexis Lafreniere replaced Kreider on the top line and power-play but was held without a point.

Rangers vs Canadiens

The Blueshirts will now turn their attention toward the Montreal Canadiens for the second time in ten days. The Rangers won in Montreal 4-1 on January 5^th thanks to a three-goal first period.

Kreider is listed as doubtful to miss the game due to the injury after skating on his own on Saturday. Julien Gauthier left Thursday’s game in the first period after colliding with teammate Sammy Blais has been ruled out. With Gauthier ruled out, Jake Leschyshyn will make his Rangers debut after being claimed off waivers from Vegas.

Ryan Lindgren, Vitaly Kravtsov, and Artemi Panarin all didn’t practice on Saturday after dealing with the stomach bug. Head coach Gerard Gallant said all three are expected to play on Sunday. If one of them can’t play, Libor Hajek or a call up from Hartford will join the lineup which will force the Blueshirts into changes.

Sunday’s game is one where the Rangers have to be careful and not let the emotion from Thursday make them sloppy. Montreal may be near the bottom of the standings, but they compete hard under Martin St. Louis and have a lot of young players looking to prove themselves. With the Rangers coming off an emotional win, Sunday’s game is setting up to be a “trap game” for the Blueshirts.

The good news for New York is that Montreal is playing their second game in as many days and are coming off a 2-1 defeat to the Islanders. Prior to playing the Islanders, Montreal had allowed three goals in each of the previous nine games. With Montreal struggling to keep the puck out of the net, look for Lafreniere to try to take advantage of being on the top line for the second straight game. It was a tough defensive game against Dallas who have one of the best netminders in the world, but Sunday’s game is against a team that gives up a lot of goals. Lafreniere is expected to be on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko.

Montreal is a team suffering from a lot of injuries to some key players including Brandon Gallagher, Sean Monahan and Mike Matheson. The injuries go further as Carey Price and Paul Byron have yet to play a game for the Canadiens this season.

Despite the injuries, Montreal still has dangerous players including Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield who make up two-thirds of their top line. Suzuki leads the team with 36 points and Caufield leads the team with 25 goals. Suzuki is currently in year one of an eight-year contract while Caufield is due a contract before the start of next season.

Like the Rangers, Montreal has a first overall pick who is learning what it takes to be a good player in this league. Juraj Slafkovsky was selected first overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft to the surprise of some. Slafkovsky currently has ten points in 38 games.

Filip Chytil has had four goals in his past five games including two against Montreal. Chytil will feature on the third line as he looks to continue to add to his goal tally. The Czech native currently has twelve goals and ten assists this season.