Canadiens at Rangers
A snowstorm on the western side of the state provide a brief rest from game action for the New York Rangers, who return to the ice on Sunday when they host the streaking Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens collected their eighth win in nine outings with a 2-0 triumph over Boston and will set their sights on their ninth victory in the last 11 regular-season meetings with the Rangers. Tomas Plekanec recorded a goal and an assist versus the Bruins and also tallied in a 3-1 win over New York on Oct. 25.
While the Canadiens have been blistering hot of late, New York has been cooling its jets following a 2-0 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday. "Right now it's been a bit of a break, so even though I'm always anxious to get back in there and play, there have been a couple good days of practice," goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said of the unintentional blip in the schedule. Carl Hagelin notched an assist against the Flyers and also netted his team's lone goal in last month's meeting with Montreal.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, City, RDS (Montreal), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (16-5-1): With his 100th goal on Saturday, Andrei Markov joined Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard as the lone defensemen to reach triple digits in franchise history. Speaking of blue-liners, veteran Bryan Allen made his debut after being acquired from Anaheim for Rene Bourque on Thursday. Paired with former Florida teammate Mike Weaver, Allen registered three hits and logged 14:30 of ice time versus Boston.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (8-7-4): Martin St. Louis has scored two goals and set up another on his current three-game point streak and has torched the Canadiens to the tune of 18 tallies and 22 assists in 50 meetings. New York could also receive a jolt with the expected return of Lee Stempniak, who participated in the team's last two practices and is available to play on Sunday. The veteran has been nursing a balky back, but could be reinserted into the lineup at the expense of fourth-liner Jesper Fast.
OVERTIME
1. New York LW Rick Nash scored versus the Flyers and has nine points in his last nine contests.
2. Montreal LW Max Pacioretty, who has scored five goals and four assists in his last eight games, had one of each in his team's first meeting with the Rangers.
3. New York has scored a power-play goal in each of its last three games.