RANGERS VS CANADIENS GAME DAY PREVIEW 12/1

RANGERS VISIT HABS LOOKING TO END ROAD WOES

New York Rangers (13-11-2) vs Montreal Canadiens (11-9-5)

Bell Centre, Montreal Que, CA

TONIGHT 7:00 PM, TV: MSG2, RSN, TVAS RADIO: ESPN-NY

Having lost their last 3 of 4 on the road including a 3-0 loss to Ottawa on Thursday the Rangers will try to turn things around at the unfriendly Bell Centre in Montreal, a venue that they haven't won in since 2016. The Rangers have a 3-7-2 record away from home but a 10-4-0 record at home at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers will still be without the services of Mats Zuccarello, Pavel Buchnevich and Vladislav Namestnikov for tonight's contest against the Canadiens but will go with 12 forwards and 6 defensemen with yesterday's recall of Vinni Letierri from Hartford. Lettieri is slated to play with Gettinger and Fogarty on the fourth line.

With the Rangers playing three games in the next four nights including Vic Hadfield Night tomorrow at the Garden, Alexandar Georgiev will get the start in Montreal tonight, his 7th start of the season. Georgiev is 4-3-0 this season and is coming off a 29-save shutout in his last start against the New York Islanders on November 21 at MSG.

After being benched for the entire 3rd period of Thursday's loss in Ottawa, Kevin Shattenkirk will return to the lineup as he and David Quinn addressed the issue that led to his benching.

The Canadiens (11-9-5) have their own issues. They have lost five in a row (0-3-2), their longest losing streak of the season. They are coming off a 2-1 loss at home to the Carolina Hurricanes in which they had 93 shot attempts. Habs captain Shea Weber will play his second game of the season after offseason knee and ankle surgery. He had 13 shot attempts in his season debut against the Hurricanes.

RANGERS TEAM LEADERS:
Points: Chris Kreider 21
Goals: Chris Kreider 13
Assists: Mika Zibanejad 13

CANADIENS TEAM LEADERS:
Points: Max Domi 26
Goals: Brendan Gallagher 11
Assists: Jeff Petry 15

This is the second of three meetings between the Rangers and Canadiens. The Rangers took the first contest with a 5-3 win at Madison Square Garden on November 6. Chris Kreider, Tony DeAngelo, Pavel Buchnevich, Neal Pionk and Mika Zibanejad tallied the Blueshirts goals, Henrik Lundqvist stopped 31 of 34 shots for the win.

RANGERS ALL TIME VS MONTREAL
Overall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196-332-94-5 (491 pts)
Home Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130-127-54-2 (316 pts)
Road Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66-205-40-3 (175 pts)
Goals For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,621
Goals Against. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,106

Shutouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, last – 10/8/2017 (2-0; Lundqvist)
Last Ranger Win at MSG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/6/2018 (5-3)
Last Ranger Win at Montreal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3/26/2016 (5-2)
Last Canadien Win at MSG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3/4/2017 (4-1)
Last Canadien Win at Montreal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/22/2018 (3-1)
 
HEAD TO HEAD RESULTS 2017-2018
2018-02-22 NYR @ MTL 1-3 L
2017-10-28 NYR @ MTL 4-5 L
2017-10-08 NYR MTL 2-0 W

HEAD TO HEAD RESULTS 2018-2019 GAME 1 OF 3
2018-11-06 NYR MTL 5-3 W  (HENRIK LUNDQVIST)