Rangers Look to Find Scoring Touch in Montreal

After yet another solid performance but not rewarded with goals, the Blueshirts are in Montreal where they look to find their offense (7:00PM on MSG).

Rangers	Rankings	Canadiens
2-3-1	Record	4-1-0
19th	League Rank	2nd
31st	Goals For	7th
1st	Goals Against	11th
27th	Power play	23rd
6th	Penalty Kill	20th

Previous Game

New York is coming off another game where they play well, but ultimately fall just short. The Blueshirts were defeated 2-1 in overtime by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. For the sixth straight game to open the season, the Rangers netminder’s allowed just one goal in regulation. If the Rangers offense could have managed two goals in regulation in each game – they would be 6-0-0.

“The positive is how many 5-on-5 goals have we given up in the first 6 games? We’re a much stingier team,” said head coach Mike Sullivan upon conclusion of Thursday’s game. “There’s a semblance of structure in all three zones that I think is very evident to the coaching staff.”

Last Year vs This Year

To anyone who watches most games played by the Rangers last season compared to the start of this season, they will tell you how right Sullivan is. Last season, the Rangers defense leaked high danger scoring chances like it was going out of style. They were completely unable to defend the middle of the ice. Now with arguably a worse defensive core in terms of personnel – the Blueshirts coaching staff has got them playing so stingy and they have proven to be extremely difficult to break down to get a high danger scoring chance. And then if you do that – then you have to beat Igor Shesterkin. Give Credit to Sullivan and his coaching staff for the amount of work they have put into the defensive side of the game up until this point of the season.

Rangers vs Canadiens

Sullivan and the rest of the team will be looking to break their trend of not being able to score more than one goal. The Rangers have only managed more than one goal in two of their six games. The trend has been playing amazing defense, creating many quality chances, but lacking in their execution to bury their chances. Other ways they can execute is being a little more crisp in the offensive zone. Oftentimes, the puck would hop by a defender’s stick on a pass to the point, or they whiff on a one-timer.

New York will now take on the 4-1-0 young Montreal Canadiens. The rebuild in Montreal was led by former Rangers general manager and current Canadiens president Jeff Gorton who has done an unbelievable job of overseeing the putting together of this young and exciting core in Montreal. With general manager Kent Hughes, they have begun locking up this young core to long term deals and they will no doubt be a problem in the East for years to come.

They are led on offense by Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. Each have seven points on the season – Caufield with five goals and Suzuki with seven assists. 21-year-old offensive defenseman Lane Hutson has four assists in five games to open the year.

Perhaps the most exciting name in the city of Montreal is of right winger Ivan Demidov. The 19-year-old Russian has three points in five games and he is on a trajectory to be an absolute superstar in the NHL. Demidov made his debut at the end of last year’s regular season and played in each of their five playoff games. Demidov is one of the favorites to win the Calder Trophy for top rookie in the league this season.

Montreal will be without Kaiden Guhle for Saturday night’s game. Guhle will be out 4-6 weeks with a lower-body injury. They also will be without forwards Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine who are each day-to-day. Montreal’s depth will be tested early into the season.

New York will still be without Vincent Trocheck who will still have to miss six more games including Saturday night’s. Carson Soucy is currently on the IR and will miss at least this upcoming game before being eligible to return.

Expect each team’s starting netminders to get the start in Shesterkin and Sam Montembeault of Montreal.