Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Game 31: Montreal Canadiens @ New York Rangers

Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the Rangers region: MSG
Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+

The Canadiens have generally played well this season, with the frustration coming when they have lapses in their execution over stretches of games that spoil the effort. One such case was found in the first meeting of the season between the Habs and New York Rangers, when Montreal held a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes by holding New York to just 12 shots, then saw the Rangers score three goals in the opening six minutes of the third period to steal the win. Similar runs of inconsistency cost them a win versus the St. Louis Blues last weekend and led to a blowout loss versus the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh didn’t have such serious breakdowns, and Montreal was able to get out to a 3-0 lead after two periods played. They may have gotten a bit too conservative trying to defend the lead in the third, but they had enough of a cushion to come away with an important win.

Now Montreal will be vying for a 10th victory on the road, in a building that has seen the opponent claim the win in 11 of the 14 games played there. For whatever reason, the Rangers struggle to score on home ice, ranking near the bottom of the league with an average of 26 shots per game at Madison Square Garden while allowing more shots than all but six other teams on their home rinks. This will be a good opportunity for the Canadiens to take the final two points available on this road trip before returning home to face the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing

#13 Cole Caufield
#14 Nick Suzuki
#76 Zachary Bolduc

#20 Juraj Slafkovský
#91 Oliver Kapanen
#93 Ivan Demidov

#17 Josh Anderson
#62 Owen Beck
#85 Alexandre Texier

#90 Joe Veleno
#71 Jake Evans
#11 Brendan Gallagher

Left Defence
Right Defence

#48 Lane Hutson
#53 Noah Dobson

#8 Mike Matheson
#45 Alexandre Carrier

#72 Arber Xhekaj
#42 Adam Engström

Starter
Backup

#32 Jacob Fowler
#75 Jakub Dobeš

Scratched: Jared Davidson, Samuel Montembeault, Jayden Struble
Injured: Kirby Dach, Kaiden Guhle, Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook

New York Rangers projected lineup

Left Wing
Centre
Right Wing

Artemiy Panarin
Mika Zibanejad
Alexis Lafrenière

Conor Sheary
Vincent Trocheck
J.T. Miller

Will Cuylle
Noah Laba
Brett Berard

Taylor Raddysh
Sam Carrick
Jaroslav Chmelar

Left Defence
Right Defence

Vladislav Gavrikov
Braden Schneider

Carson Soucy
Will Borgen

Urho Vaakanainen
Matthew Robertson

Starter
Backup

Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick