Game 23: Montreal Canadiens @ New York Rangers
Start time: **1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST**
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Rangers region: MSG
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, Sportsnet+
In five consecutive losses for the New York Rangers, they’ve scored a total of 10 goals, averaging well under their season mark of 3.23. Suddenly one of the favourites heading into the season is struggling in the middle of the standings, currently hanging on to a wild-card position.
Montreal has seemingly recovered from their setback versus the Vegas Golden Knights a week ago, with three points in their past two games and five regulation goals allowed in that time. Even without Mike Matheson in the lineup for those games, the young defence has held together.
Today the Habs are trying to avenge a lopsided loss to the Rangers one month ago, and such a result would set them up well for what is another back-to-back set. Infamously inept in games on consecutive days a year ago, they’ve taken nine of the 12 points from three such sequences so far this year.
The indication is that Patrik Laine is close to making his Canadiens debut, which may happen as soon as Tuesday back home at the Bell Centre. The team would love to keep its good play going to head home with some momentum for that highly anticipated event.
Montreal Canadiens projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #13 Cole Caufield | #14 Nick Suzuki | #35 Alex Newhook |
| #20 Juraj Slafkovský | #28 Christian Dvorak | #11 Brendan Gallagher |
| #89 Joshua Roy | #77 Kirby Dach | #17 Josh Anderson |
| #51 Emil Heineman | #71 Jake Evans | #40 Joel Armia |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #48 Lane Hutson | #8 Mike Matheson |
| #21 Kaiden Guhle | #52 Justin Barron |
| #72 Arber Xhekaj | #58 David Savard |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| #35 Samuel Montembeault | #30 Cayden Primeau |
Scratched: Michael Pezzetta, Jayden Struble
Conditioning loan: Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
Injured: Patrik Laine
New York Rangers projected lineup
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Artemiy Panarin | Mika Zibanejad | Will Cuylle |
| Chris Kreider | Vincent Trocheck | Alexis Lafrenière |
| Filip Chytil | Kaapo Kakko | Reilly Smith |
| Jimmy Vesey | Sam Carrick | Brett Berard |
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| Ryan Lindgren | Adam Fox |
| K’Andre Miller | Braden Schneider |
| Zac Jones | Jacob Trouba |
| Starter | Backup |
|---|---|
| Jonathan Quick | Igor Shesterkin |
