1/15/11 Rangers vs. Canadiens

Hello, again.

Rangers against the Montreal Canadiens.

Dosen't it seem like we just did this? This will be the second meeting between these two teams this week, the Canadiens winning earlier this week by a score of 2-1. The Rangers looked sluggish, according to John Tortorella in the post game press conference. Watching the first game, he is quite right. The passes weren't clean, mostly hopping over the players sticks when getting to them, and the neutral zone was not taken control of. Those are two factors the Rangers are going to need to take from the previous game against the Canadiens and apply them tonight if they want to win. On the injury front, its still Frolov, Prospal, Callahan, Christensen, and Boogaard out for the Rangers. Lundqvist however, has kept the Rangers hanging around in the standings, going 5-1-1 in his last seven starts, and has not allowed more than two goals on any of those occasions.

The Habs rolled into the Garden earlier this week and put a victory up against the Rangers. Now, its their turn to defend their home turf. The Canadiens have an awesome home record of 14-6-3, and are 5-4-1 in their last ten games. A sickness has been going through the Canadiens locker room, most recently infecting Mike Cammalleri and Max Pacioretty, who are game time decisions. Along with them, Andrei Markov and Josh Gorges are also out for tonights game.

My Diagnosis


I have a good feeling in my gut that the game tonight will be won in overtime. I feel that both teams are equally matched defensively, and thats the way it will be. I am not sure if Auld will be in net for the Habs, but after an alright performance this week, I don't see why the Habs wouldn't put him back in. However, when it comes down to overtime, it could go either way between these teams.

My Predictions


Mathieu Darche will open the scoring for the Canadiens, the only goal of the 1st period.
The Rangers will get on the board in the 2nd, coming off of Artem Anisimov's stick.
Marc Staal will pull the Rangers ahead 2-1 also in the 2nd.
And finally, Benoit Pouliot will tie the game up half way through the 3rd period.

In overtime, its hard to call. Although I'm getting a feeling that Wojtek Wolski will pay another dividend that Rozsival was hardly ever able to pay by scoring the overtime winner early in OT.

Enjoy the game!