Surging New York Rangers host the lowly Montreal Canadiens – NHL Preview
After a brief but successful road trip, New York Rangers have returned home to host the lowly Montreal Canadiens on Friday, March 30, 2012, at Madison Square Garden, New York, New York.
Rangers are leading the Eastern Conference and have already qualified for the playoffs. On the other hand, Canadiens are placed at the bottom of the conference and have been eliminated from the playoff contention.
Both teams have five more games left to play in the regular season. Let’s take a look at them.
Rangers
They are leading the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference with 105 points after 77 games. They are one of the strong contenders for the President’s Trophy this season.
Rangers have won five of their last six games and are currently on a three-game winning streak with the victories coming against Toronto Maple Leafs (4-3 after shootout), Minnesota Wild (3-2) and Winnipeg Jets (4-2).
Jets had scored two goals before Rangers could get their first scoring move, but when they did, they were unstoppable.
Rangers scored twice in the second period to level the score and then added two more goals in the final to win the game.
Rangers’ coach, John Tortorella, said after the game:
"Making it 2-1 instead of going down 3-0 was a key part of the game. The last 35 minutes of the game is the best we've played in a while. Once we got our legs going and got away from a lack of discipline and killing penalties I thought we played really well."
Canadiens
They are ranked at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 72 points after 77 games.
Canadiens have lost five of their last six games and are currently on a two-game losing streak with the defeats coming against Philadelphia Flyers (4-1) and Florida Panthers (3-2 after shootout).
In their last game, Canadiens were one goal down, but they took the lead in the second period. However, they allowed Panthers to rally and ended up losing in shootout.
Canadiens’ coach, Randy Cunneyworth, said after the game:
"We worked hard. It's a question of handling pressure at the right moment."
Predictions
Rangers are favourites.
The sum of goals scored by both teams might stay under six.
If Canadiens win, the winning margin will be less than two goals.
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