Canadiens at Rangers
The New York Rangers were able to somewhat mask their struggles at home this season by piling up an NHL-league 27 wins on the road. The regular-season woes at home are part of a deeper problem for the Rangers, who will look to snap a six-game postseason losing streak at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
After earning a split in Montreal, New York went down meekly 3-1 before the home fans in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round series and is winless in the playoffs at Madison Square Garden since a Game 7 win in the conference semifinals in May 2015. "We have to give more at home, in the playoffs, or we aren't going to win," Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said. "We need more -- it's as simple as that." Montreal was within 18 seconds of dropping into an 0-2 series hole at home and now stand within two wins of advancing to the next round. "The next game's going to be huge," Canadiens forward Alexander Radulov said. "They're going to come out hard again, so we have to play the same way but with more effort and play good as a team."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports (Montreal), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS: Radulov returned to the NHL after spending the previous four seasons in Russia and provided Montreal plenty of bang for its buck. After collecting 18 goals and 54 points in the regular season, Radulov has emerged as the star of the series with five points in the last two contests, setting up the tying goal in Game 2 and adding a highlight-reel tally in Game 3 with Kevin Hayes draped all over him. “He wants to win and he doesn’t care about anything but winning," coach Claude Julien said. "He’s hard on himself because he wants to help us win."
ABOUT THE RANGERS: Coach Alain Vigneault shuffled his lines for the final 20 minutes in Game 3 after New York managed a combined 12 shots over the first two periods, and he tinkered some more at Monday's practice, giving rookie Pavel Buchnevich time on a struggling power-play unit that has failed in all 10 chances. “I’m looking at all our options right now,” Vigneault said. "Some of our problems have come a lot on our puck management. We need to do a better job.” Chris Kreider, who scored a team-high 28 goals this season, has yet to register a point in the series.
OVERTIME
1. New York has been outscored 21-4 in its last six postseason games at home.
2. Canadiens G Carey Price has won six consecutive starts at Madison Square Garden.
3. Lundqvist will appear in his 120th playoff game Tuesday and move past Dominik Hasek and Tom Barrasso for 10th place on the all-time list for goalies.