New York Rangers: Can they keep the streak going in Montreal?
The New York Rangers travel to Montreal for yet another crucial game in their hunt for a playoff spot. Winners of eight in a row on the road, the Blueshirts are just four points out of the wild card.
The last time the New York Rangers played at the Bell Centre it was the weekend before Thanksgiving and they came back from a four goal deficit to beat the Canadiens 6-5. It’s a win that coach David Quinn has pointed to often as a turning point for his young team.
Going into that game, the Canadiens were perched in third place in the Atlantic Division while the Rangers were in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division. How things have changed. Mntreal has slipped to fifth place with their playoff hopes evaporating while the Rangers are still in seventh in a loaded Metropolitan Division, but on the move upwards towards the playoffs.
The Rangers will be looking to extend their franchise road winning streak to nine games, a feat accomplished by only nine other teams in NHL history. They are looking for a season high fifth win in a row after winning eight of their last nine games.
They will be doing it with the same lineup that toppled the Islanders on Tuesday. Pavel Buchnevich will miss his second game recuperating from injuries suffered in that car accident. Alexandar Georgiev will be in goal for the Blueshirts after his 42 save performance against the Isles.
With both the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets off tonight, it’s an opportunity for the Rangers to clumb in the standings. With a win, they will tied the Hurricanes in points and pull with two of Columbus. The Playoff Probabilities Report on hockeyreference.com shows the Rangers with a 32% chance of making the playoffs and even gives them a 1% shot at the Stanley Cup. The Athletic (subscription required) has a daily projection that puts the Rangers with a 29% chance of the playoffs.
Can the Blueshirts make magic again north of the border? With all of their cylinders clicking, the team is on a roll unlike any we have seen in years. Montreal has lost six of their last eight games and are vulnerable to this Rangers team.
About the Canadiens
Carey Price will be in net for the Canadiens. He’s had a solid season for the Habs, but for the first time found his name bantered about as potential deadline trade bait. He has always played well against the Rangers with a 19-8-1 lifetime record. This season he hasn’t fared as well, splitting two decisions with a 3.58 goals against average and a .891 save percentage. He was in net for that brutal loss to the Blueshirts in November.
Jonathan Drouin will miss tonight’s game with an ankle injury. Charlie Hudon has been called up from the AHL to replace him. Although they have been dogged by injuries, both Brendan Gallagher and Shea Weber will be in the lineup.
The Canadien’s lost their last game, blowing a two goal lead to the Canucks before losing in overtime, 4-3.
The Canadiens top four scorers are Tomas Tatar, Max Domi, Phillip Danault and Nick Suzuki. All four were acquired via trade with Tatar and Suzuki coming from Vegas for Max Pacioretty and Domi coming from Arizona for Alex Galchenyuk. Danault was acquired from Chicago for Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Wiese. All of those trades have worked out pretty well for the Canadiens.
Montreal is seven points out of third place in the Atlantic Division. When they look back on this season, they can point to the four games they lost to the worst team in the NHL as the reason they missed the playoffs. Unbelievably, the Red Wings swept the four game series. That’s four of the 15 games that Detroit has won this season.
When you look at Montreal, they are right smack in the middle of the NHL. They are 17th, scoring an average of 2.97 goals per game and are 16th in the league, allowing an average of 3.05 goals per game. Their power play and penalty kill both rank 20th in the league. All of that adds up to the 23rd best record in the NHL.
As a result, the Canadiens were sellers at the deadline, trading Ilya Kovalchuk, Marco Scandella, Nick Cousins and Nate Thompson to contenders, all for draft picks.
About the Rangers
As mentioned, the Rangers will be looking to extend their season high overall and road winning streaks. It’s not just the team that is streaking. Artemi Panarin has a ten game point scoring streak. Mika Zibanejad has a five game goal scoring streak and an eight game point streak. Ryan Strome had an eight game point streak stopped against the Islanders.
Panarin has set a new career high with 32 goals this season. With 53 assists, he is six below his career high of 59, set last season in Columbus. He is two points away from tying his career high of 87 points.
At this pace, Panarin will finish with 43 goals, 70 assists and 113 points. That would be the most goals since Jaromir Jagr‘s 54 goals in 2005-06. It would be the most assists since Wayne Gretzy’s 72 assists in 1996-97 and the most points since Jagr’s 123 in 2005-06. It would be the second highest point total in franchise history. Pretty spectacular.
With Buchnevich out again, it means Filip Chytil will play right wing with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Julien Gauthier and Phil Di Giuseppe will both be in the lineup as well.
Alexandar Georgiev will be in goal. He possesses a lifetime 1-3 record against Montreal with a 3.54 goals against average. He was in goal in the comeback game and was thisclose to being pulled. In fact, David Quinn had Henrik Lundqvist warming up in the hallway, but elected to stay with Georgiev.
Ever wonder how much of an impact Artemi Panarin has had on this team?
The Rangers now rank sixth in the NHL in scoring, averaging 3.32 goals per game. The last Ranger team to exceed that average was the 1994 Stanley Cup champions, who averaged 3.56 goals per game.
The Blueshirts power play is seventh in the NHL with a 22.8% efficiency rate. The last time they had a number that high was in 1993-94 with a 23% success rate.
The Rangers are allowing 3.05 goals per game, their lowest figure since 2016-17 when they averaged giving up 2.63 goals per game. Their penalty kill is at 79.2% on the season, but has been hot lately, allowing only only two goals in their last 24 times shorthanded. The have allowed power play goals in each of the last two games.
Three keys to winning
- Keep riding Zibanejad and Panarin. The Rangers have found a sure fire way to succeed and that is by riding their two best players. We can talk about secondary scoring all we want, but as those two go, so go the Rangers.
- Limit the shots against for a change – The Rangers have allowed 37 shots or more in six of their last nine contests including 91 in their last two games. While they have been able to rely on Shesterkin and Georgiev to keep them in games, the hemorrhaging of shots has to stop. It’s a recipe for disaster and is not playoff hockey. The fact that the Blueshirts blew a two goal lead with six minutes to go on Long Island has been overlooked in the euphoria over the overtime win. It wasn’t a good sign and needs to stop.
- Get some secondary scoring – Sure, the team can rely on Panarin and Zibanejad, but look how important that McKegg goal was in the Islanders game. The third and fourth lines need to chip in more with timely goals. One goal a game from the bottom six to complement their best players and outstanding goalkeeping is the way to keep winning.
About the game
Gametime is 7pm. It will be televised on MSG 2 and the radio call will be on ESPN Radio 1050 AM.
The Blue Line Station live thread will be active in the hour before the game. Take the opportunity to join in and share your thoughts about the Blueshirts, the deadline activity and the state of the NHL with your fellow Rangers fans.
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