Blueshirts look to bounce back in Montreal
After a deflating loss in Ottawa on Friday night, the New York Rangers continue their eastern Canada road trip as they visit the Montreal Canadiens.
One night after a depressing 4-1 defeat against the Ottawa Senators, the New York Rangers travel to Quebec for a Saturday night battle with the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
In the game against the Sens, the Rangers were thoroughly outplayed, falling behind in the first minute of play. Rookie Logan Brown scored his first NHL goal and ex-Ranger Anthony Duclair added another while Jacob Trouba scored the Rangers’ only goal of the night. Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves in a game the Rangers didn’t show up for.
Coach David Quinn said after the loss that the Blueshirts have needed to have bounce-back efforts far to often this season, and Saturday night in Montreal is no different.
“Unfortunately, we’ve responded well to games like these, but they’ve happened too often,” Quinn said. “Hopefully we can follow the trend where when we don’t play well, we come back and put forth a much better effort.”
“Unfortunately, we’ve responded well to games like these, but they’ve happened too often. Hopefully we can follow the trend where when we don’t play well, we come back and put forth a much better effort.” — Coach Quinn pic.twitter.com/jov0tq9CiJ
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 23, 2019
About the Canadiens
The Rangers’ all-time record against Montreal will make any Blueshirts fan cringe. It stands at 196-334-94-5, with the Rangers going 66-206-40-3 as the road team. The Habs won the season series two games to one last year.
Through their first 22 games, left winger Tomas Tatar has led the way for Montreal in scoring with seven goals and 13 assists (20 points). Drfenseman Shea Weber (6-11–17), right winger Brendan Gallagher (9-8–17) and center Phillip Danault (6-11–17) are right behind him.
Center Max Domi, who is the son of former NHL enforcer and ex-Ranger Tie Domi, has posted four goals and nine assists in 22 games with the team this season. It’s also worth mentioning that Domi and Rangers forward Brendan Lemieux – the son of Claude Lemieux – have a bit of history with each other. And I don’t just mean between their fathers. There is no doubt that we will see those two tangle at some point in tonight’s contest.
Goaltender Carey Price is 10-5-3 with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage this season. Price’s backup, and former New Jersey Devil, Keith Kinkaid is 1-1-2 with a 4.23 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage in 2019-20.
The Canadiens are in third place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 11-6-5, but they have lost four in a row and will be looking to get back on the winning track.
About the Rangers
With the absence of Mika Zibanejad clearly being felt, the Rangers have relied heavily on Artemi Panarin who’s 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) leads the team by six points over Ryan Strome’s 19 (six goals, 13 assists).
However, Panarin had his 12-game point streak snapped in last night’s contest in Ontario.
Also making their presence felt this season are defenseman Anthony DeAngelo (6-9–15) and forward Pavel Buchnevich (3-14–17). Zibanejad stands at 11 points (4 goals, seven assists), having only played nine contests.
Since Henrik Lundqvist played last night in Ottawa, Alexander Georgiev is expected to start tonight against the Habs. Georgiev made 38 saves while making his NHL debut with the Rangers on Feb. 22, 2018 at Montreal. The 38 saves were the most by a Rangers goaltender in his NHL debut in franchise history.