W2W4: Rangers vs. Canadiens 11.25.15
Who: New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens
Where: Madison Square Garden
When: Wednesday night at 7:00 PM
Watch: MSG-2 beginning at 6:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-1050 AM and NewYorkRangers.com
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The Skinny:
The Garden Faithful should be in for a real hockey treat Wednesday night as the top two teams in the Eastern Conference so far this season get together, with the Rangers (16-3-2, 34 pts) hosting the Montreal Canadiens (16-4-2, 34 pts). The Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers own the top spot in the East by percentage points over Montreal, which sits atop the Atlantic Division. Last year both of these teams won their respective divisions and also finished 1-2 in the Eastern Conference as the Rangers edged the Canadiens for first by three points, 113-110. Of course two years ago these Original Six teams met in the 2014 Eastern Conference Final, as well, with the Rangers ultimately advancing to the Stanley Cup Final by virtue of a six-game series win. So the Rangers and Canadiens have certainly stoked their once-dormant rivalry in recent years, and the intensity Wednesday night should reflect that. The Rangers are off to the best 21-game start in franchise history and have won 11 of their last 12 games, following Monday’s 3-0 shutout at The Garden over Nashville. The Canadiens, who already own a whopping seven-point lead in their division over second-place Ottawa, are 7-2-2 in their last 11 contests—mostly played without star goaltender Carey Price who had been out injured. Price is healthy again and just backstopped wins in a weekend home-and-home with the Islanders. The Rangers and Canadiens are tied for the league-lead with +28 goal differentials. The Blueshirts have reached that juncture by allowing the fewest goals in the NHL, and the Canadiens are there in part because they have scored the most goals in the league. Both teams play with uptempo and with a fast pace, making Wednesday’s contest an expected exciting one. Ten Montreal players have recorded double digit points, so far, while nine have done so for the Rangers. Mats Zuccarello leads the Rangers in scoring with ten goals and 21 points, while Montreal features two players—Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacorietty—with 20 points apiece and two more—P.K. Subban and Brendan Gallagher—who have 19. Unfortunately for Montreal Gallagher will miss Wednesday’s game, and be sidelined the next six weeks, following surgery to repair two fractured fingers, suffered while blocking a Johnny Boychuk slap shot on Sunday. The Rangers come in healthy, and will likely keep their lineup intact, with Henrik Lundqvist opposing Price in a much-anticipated goalie matchup featuring a pair of former Vezina Trophy winners.
Head To Head:
This is the second of three meetings between these Original Six rivals this season, and the first at Madison Square Garden. Back on October 15 Carey Price and the Canadiens shut out the Rangers 3-0 in Montreal’s home opener at the Bell Centre. Price made 25 saves, including 11 in a very impressive second period, five of which came during a 5-on-3 Rangers power play. Tomas Fleischmann scored a goal and added an assist for Montreal, while David Desharnais contributed a pair of helpers. Dale Weise and Tomas Plekanec (empty net) also scored for the Canadiens, who pumped 32 shots on goal. The final meeting between the Rangers and Canadiens this season will take place at the Bell Centre on March 26. Last season the Rangers and Canadiens split two games played on MSG ice. Lundqvist blanked Montreal 5-0 on November 23, 2014 as five different Blueshirts scored and all 12 forwards recorded at least one point in the win. Price and the Canadiens returned the favor on January 29 with a 1-0 shutout of New York. Incredibly the winner of eight of the last nine meetings between these two teams has recorded a shutout to post the victory.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Henrik Lundqvist: It’s almost redundant to list Henrik Lundqvist as the Rangers Player to Watch because really every game he plays this season the focus is squarely on the Blueshirts netminder. As Rick Nash stated following Monday’s 3-0 shutout over Nashville Lundqvist it “seems to be a trend” that Lundqvist is New York’s best player. That he most definitely was on Monday, keeping the Rangers afloat while being badly outplayed early on by the Predators—at one point the Rangers were being out-attempted 62-21 and outshot 25-7. Lundqvist calmly stopped all 31 shots and earned his second shutout of the season, and 57th of his career. He currently leads the NHL with 12 wins, a 1.74 GAA, and a .946 save percentage, while he is one shy of tying for the league lead in shutouts, in starting 17 of New York’s first 21 games this season. Hockey people are beginning to compare what Lundqvist is doing this season with what Montreal goaltender Carey Price did a year ago while capturing both the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie and the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. There’s a long way to go to get to that point, but Lundqvist has most definitely been the best player on one of the league’s top teams, and the best goaltender in the NHL. In 31 career starts versus Montreal, Lundqvist is only 14-14-2 with two shutouts and a GAA of 2.69.
Canadiens-Dale Weise: The former Rangers forward has found a home in Montreal after bouncing from New York to Vancouver to begin his NHL career. After scoring a career-high ten goals and producing a career-best 29 points in 79 games with the Canadiens last season, Dale Weise is off to a fast start in 2015-16. His nine goals are tied for second most on the club, while his 14 points are eight-most on one of the league’s elite offensive squads. At the age of 27, Weise is well on his way to shattering his previous career bests. Originally a fourth-round selection of the Rangers in the 2008 NHL Draft, the rugged Wiese appeared in ten games with the Blueshirts in 2010-11 before being claimed on waivers by Vancouver the following season. He was traded to the Canadiens in 2013-14, and was a key spark plug on a Montreal team which advanced the Eastern Conference Final against the Rangers, scoring three goals and totaling seven points in 16 games that post-season. Weise, who scored against the Rangers back on October 15, enters play on a three-game point-scoring streak (1-2-3) and with a three-goal and a two-goal game already on his ledger this season.
Who: New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens
Where: Madison Square Garden
When: Wednesday night at 7:00 PM
Watch: MSG-2 beginning at 6:30 PM
Listen: ESPN-1050 AM and NewYorkRangers.com
*******************************
The Skinny:
The Garden Faithful should be in for a real hockey treat Wednesday night as the top two teams in the Eastern Conference so far this season get together, with the Rangers (16-3-2, 34 pts) hosting the Montreal Canadiens (16-4-2, 34 pts). The Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers own the top spot in the East by percentage points over Montreal, which sits atop the Atlantic Division. Last year both of these teams won their respective divisions and also finished 1-2 in the Eastern Conference as the Rangers edged the Canadiens for first by three points, 113-110. Of course two years ago these Original Six teams met in the 2014 Eastern Conference Final, as well, with the Rangers ultimately advancing to the Stanley Cup Final by virtue of a six-game series win. So the Rangers and Canadiens have certainly stoked their once-dormant rivalry in recent years, and the intensity Wednesday night should reflect that. The Rangers are off to the best 21-game start in franchise history and have won 11 of their last 12 games, following Monday’s 3-0 shutout at The Garden over Nashville. The Canadiens, who already own a whopping seven-point lead in their division over second-place Ottawa, are 7-2-2 in their last 11 contests—mostly played without star goaltender Carey Price who had been out injured. Price is healthy again and just backstopped wins in a weekend home-and-home with the Islanders. The Rangers and Canadiens are tied for the league-lead with +28 goal differentials. The Blueshirts have reached that juncture by allowing the fewest goals in the NHL, and the Canadiens are there in part because they have scored the most goals in the league. Both teams play with uptempo and with a fast pace, making Wednesday’s contest an expected exciting one. Ten Montreal players have recorded double digit points, so far, while nine have done so for the Rangers. Mats Zuccarello leads the Rangers in scoring with ten goals and 21 points, while Montreal features two players—Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacorietty—with 20 points apiece and two more—P.K. Subban and Brendan Gallagher—who have 19. Unfortunately for Montreal Gallagher will miss Wednesday’s game, and be sidelined the next six weeks, following surgery to repair two fractured fingers, suffered while blocking a Johnny Boychuk slap shot on Sunday. The Rangers come in healthy, and will likely keep their lineup intact, with Henrik Lundqvist opposing Price in a much-anticipated goalie matchup featuring a pair of former Vezina Trophy winners.
Head To Head:
This is the second of three meetings between these Original Six rivals this season, and the first at Madison Square Garden. Back on October 15 Carey Price and the Canadiens shut out the Rangers 3-0 in Montreal’s home opener at the Bell Centre. Price made 25 saves, including 11 in a very impressive second period, five of which came during a 5-on-3 Rangers power play. Tomas Fleischmann scored a goal and added an assist for Montreal, while David Desharnais contributed a pair of helpers. Dale Weise and Tomas Plekanec (empty net) also scored for the Canadiens, who pumped 32 shots on goal. The final meeting between the Rangers and Canadiens this season will take place at the Bell Centre on March 26. Last season the Rangers and Canadiens split two games played on MSG ice. Lundqvist blanked Montreal 5-0 on November 23, 2014 as five different Blueshirts scored and all 12 forwards recorded at least one point in the win. Price and the Canadiens returned the favor on January 29 with a 1-0 shutout of New York. Incredibly the winner of eight of the last nine meetings between these two teams has recorded a shutout to post the victory.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Henrik Lundqvist: It’s almost redundant to list Henrik Lundqvist as the Rangers Player to Watch because really every game he plays this season the focus is squarely on the Blueshirts netminder. As Rick Nash stated following Monday’s 3-0 shutout over Nashville Lundqvist it “seems to be a trend” that Lundqvist is New York’s best player. That he most definitely was on Monday, keeping the Rangers afloat while being badly outplayed early on by the Predators—at one point the Rangers were being out-attempted 62-21 and outshot 25-7. Lundqvist calmly stopped all 31 shots and earned his second shutout of the season, and 57th of his career. He currently leads the NHL with 12 wins, a 1.74 GAA, and a .946 save percentage, while he is one shy of tying for the league lead in shutouts, in starting 17 of New York’s first 21 games this season. Hockey people are beginning to compare what Lundqvist is doing this season with what Montreal goaltender Carey Price did a year ago while capturing both the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie and the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. There’s a long way to go to get to that point, but Lundqvist has most definitely been the best player on one of the league’s top teams, and the best goaltender in the NHL. In 31 career starts versus Montreal, Lundqvist is only 14-14-2 with two shutouts and a GAA of 2.69.
Canadiens-Dale Weise: The former Rangers forward has found a home in Montreal after bouncing from New York to Vancouver to begin his NHL career. After scoring a career-high ten goals and producing a career-best 29 points in 79 games with the Canadiens last season, Dale Weise is off to a fast start in 2015-16. His nine goals are tied for second most on the club, while his 14 points are eight-most on one of the league’s elite offensive squads. At the age of 27, Weise is well on his way to shattering his previous career bests. Originally a fourth-round selection of the Rangers in the 2008 NHL Draft, the rugged Wiese appeared in ten games with the Blueshirts in 2010-11 before being claimed on waivers by Vancouver the following season. He was traded to the Canadiens in 2013-14, and was a key spark plug on a Montreal team which advanced the Eastern Conference Final against the Rangers, scoring three goals and totaling seven points in 16 games that post-season. Weise, who scored against the Rangers back on October 15, enters play on a three-game point-scoring streak (1-2-3) and with a three-goal and a two-goal game already on his ledger this season.
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