Rangers at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens will try to complete a perfect four-game homestand when the New York Rangers visit on Saturday. Montreal skated to a 2-1 overtime triumph against Detroit on Tuesday to win its third straight contest after opening the season with three victories in four road games. The Rangers are also riding a three-game winning streak following some uneven performances from starting netminder Henrik Lundqvist.
Lundqvist has allowed one even-strength goal on the winning streak after yielding eight over his previous two starts. Montreal’s power play has been very effective at home, going 3-for-7 during the homestand. The Canadiens are 9-1-0 at home against the Rangers in regular-season action since the start of the 2009-10 campaign.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), TVA (Montreal), CITY
ABOUT THE RANGERS (4-3-0): New York snapped its man-advantage slump with two power-play goals in a 4-3 overtime victory over New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. Rookie Anthony Duclair is expected to return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for two games. Injured star Derek Stepan is slated to begin skating soon as he recovers from a fractured fibula.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (6-1-0): Carey Price also struggled to start the season but his last start was his best one, turning aside 27 of 28 shots against the Red Wings on Tuesday. Tomas Plekanec has three assists in his last four games, raising his team-leading point total to eight, while Alex Galchenyuk has seven points. Defenseman P.K. Subban has five points and a team-high 14 penalty minutes.
OVERTIME
1. Rangers F Rick Nash has eight goals - twice as many as any Canadiens player.
2. Montreal Fs Lars Eller and Rene Bourque have both been limited to one assist after impressive playoff performances.
3. The Canadiens, in conjunction with Ottawa and Toronto, will honor the victims of a pair of shootings this week as well as those who stopped the attacker in a coordinated pregame ceremony