New York Rangers-Montreal Canadiens: Rematch in Montreal

  The Rangers will be looking to get back on course tonight in Montreal after playing in a boxing match on Thursday against the Flyers, in which they were shutout 2-0. The Blueshirts hosted the Canadiens less than a week ago at Madison Square Garden, when they managed to come back from a 2-0 deficit and win 6-2.

That tilt had much importance in the standings, as will this one. The Rangers are sitting in seventh in the East, and two points behind them, sit the Habs in tenth.

Again, no lineup changes tonight for the Rangers as Head Coach John Tortorella has chose to sit Donald Brashear and Ales Kotalik for the fifth straight time. I said earlier that if the Rangers want to be the superior team, they need to play with grit and finish their checks. After allowing Carcillo to beat the tar out of star Marian Gaborik, I wonder why they would not go with Brashear in this one, but that is the way it will be.

Rangers Projected Lineup

Prospal - Dubinsky - Gaborik
Drury - Christensen - Callahan
Higgins - Anisimov - Lisin
Avery - Boyle - Voros

Staal - Rozsival
Del Zotto - Girardi
Redden - Gilroy

Lundqvist

Scratches: Ales Kotalik, Donald Brashear

Henrik Lundqvist back in net tonight as he was marvelous on Thursday in Philadelphia. Surprisingly, Henrik was the one that stated Carcillo should be ready for a beating next time around—if only Dan Girardi had the same mentality when it occurred right in front of his face.

I believe that Marian Gaborik was definitely off his game after his brief one-sided bout with Carcillo. He did not have the puck too often and all of his shots were missing the net. If someone would have come in and came to his aid, maybe it would not have had as big as an effect.

I though the Sean Avery line was one of the better for New York last game. Boyle, Avery, and Voros are all great friends off the ice, and I think it has showed on the ice. These three have been generating many chances for a fourth line. Tortorella has been very pleased with that line.

Canadiens Projected Lineup
 
Cammalleri - Plekanec - Darche
Pouliot - Gomez - Gionta
Moen - Metropolit - Pacioretty
Bergeron - Lapierre - D'Agostini

Gorges - Markov
Hamrlik - Spacek
O'Byrne - Gill

Halak

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the late pregame and the brief post earlier, but unfortunately I have been taken over by a 24-hour viral bug that is slowing down the process. Anyway, follow game updates on twitter.com/RangersTribune .