Five straight defeats haunt the New York Rangers. Getting played off the rink in Calgary, hammered in Edmonton, bested at home by the Blues, clobbered in Carolina, and now the Flyers fiasco has left the Rangers searching for answers. Philadelphia and Carolina were always going to be bad matchups for the Rangers with the issues the roster is having. Still, they can change that today against the Montreal Canadiens in another matinee after Thanksgiving. It's an essential game for the Rangers.
Igor Shesterkin was the netminder bested by the Flyers, so the Rangers will turn to Jonathan Quick as they return to the Garden. When the Blueshirts had issues last year, Jonathan Quick's steady hand stabled the ship. They'll need the veteran to help guide the roster through the storm it is currently enduring. Quick's been through everything, so he'll require all his experience and know-how to survive behind this Blueshirts defense.
New York cannot afford another bad start. They were down 2-0 against Philadelphia in just a few minutes. Outshot, outscored, and outplayed by the Flyers, the Blueshirts took too long to get going, which was the team's shortcoming for the game. They need to improve from the get-go and close the defensive zone competently. It's a less taxing game against the Montreal Canadiens than against a team like the Flyers, but it won't be easy.
Projected Lineups
Montreal Canadiens
Cole Caufield - Nick Suzuki - Alex Newhook
Juraj Slafkovsky - Christian Dvorak - Brendan Gallagher
Joshua Roy - Kirby Dach - Josh Anderson
Emil Heineman - Jake Evans - Joel Armia
Lane Hutton - Kaiden Guhle
Arber Xhekaj - David Savard
Jayden Struble - Justin Barron
Samuel Montembault
Cayden Primeau
New York Rangers
Artemi Panarin - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle - Mika Zibanejad - Brett Berard
Adam Edstrom - Kaapo Kakko - Reilly Smith
Jimmy Vesey - Sam Carrick - Jonny Brodzinski
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones - Braden Schneider
Jonathan Quick
Igor Shesterkin
Puck Drop
It's a 1 p.m. puck drop from Madison Square Garden as the Rangers look to stop the rot and return to winning ways. Montreal came into this game with one of the worst records in the National Hockey League and a system that has been drawing criticism from their fans. This roster isn't healthy and is still struggling. New York needs the win badly, which is as close to a must-win in November as you get.