Rangers at Canadiens
Carey Price's trophy case includes a Hart and a Vezina, but Montreal's elite goaltender is a team player first as he tries to bounce back from his worst game in nearly four years when the Canadiens host the New York Rangers on Saturday. Price yielded seven goals in Thursday's 7-1 loss to Minnesota - the most he's allowed since March 2, 2013 in a 7-6 overtime setback against Pittsburgh and one shy of his career high in an 8-6 defeat to Boston on Feb. 9, 2011.
Some goaltenders would welcome their coach yanking them under such conditions, but Price told reporters: "I'd rather just stick it out. Nobody else has the opportunity to get pulled in the game, so I'd rather just stick it out with everyone else." Price (20-7-4, 2.28 goals-against average, .922 save percentage), a big reason why first-place Montreal owns a nine-point lead over Boston in the Atlantic Division, is 12-5-1, 1.74, .943 in 19 games versus New York. The Rangers fell 4-2 to Toronto on Friday but welcomed the return of power forward Rick Nash, who had missed nine games with a groin injury. New York also regained the services of Pavel Buchnevich, who hadn't played since Nov. 12 because of a back injury and recorded an assist Friday to give him nine points (four goals) in 11 contests.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), Sportsnet, TVA (Montreal)
ABOUT THE RANGERS (28-14-1): Nash, who has scored 13 goals in 31 games this season, played 15 minutes, 39 seconds on Friday and saw action on both special teams during New York's second loss in its last seven contests. Chris Kreider scored his 16th goal and J.T. Miller his 13th on Friday, moving them into a tie for the team lead in points (31) with Derek Stepan (nine goals) and Kevin Hayes (13). Mats Zuccarello (eight goals) made it a five-way tie with an assist against Toronto.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (26-11-6): Max Pacioretty (team-high 19 goals) began January with four goals in three games before recording only one assist in his last three contests. Defenseman Shea Weber has collected a goal and seven assists in his last seven games while boasting a team-best plus-18 rating, but he is even over the last 15 contests - with Montreal going 7-5-3 during that span. Alex Galchenyuk (nine goals, 23 points in 25 games) is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation from a knee injury, but like Andrew Shaw (concussion) and defenseman Andrei Markov (groin), is questionable to play Saturday.
OVERTIME
1. The Canadiens split a two-game road trip, defeating Winnipeg 7-4 on Wednesday before the loss to Minnesota, and will try to snap a five-game losing streak when playing its third contest in four days.
2. The Rangers have won eight of their last nine games on the road and lead the NHL with 15 victories away from home.
3. Montreal has won two of three meetings in each of the last two seasons.