Rangers Going Up And Canadiens Going Down

The Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers are tied with 80 points but the Rangers are on their way up and the Canadiens are going down.

That's my prediction for the game, too.

The Montreal Canadiens are 36-25-8 and the New York Rangers are 36-26-8.

Both teams fired their coaches recently, but the GM took over in Montreal and the Rangers hired Stanley Cup-winning coach John Tortorella.

Both teams started this year with great expectations but then had horrible seasons.

New York turned things around and are now back in the playoff picture. The Canadiens never sank that low.

In back-to-back losses to the New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils, Montreal was outshot 87-49. The New Rangers outshot the Philadelphia Flyers 76 to 49 in two games on the weekend.

The Canadiens are coming off an emotional loss at home to the New Jersey Devils on the night goalie Martin Brodeur beat Patrick Roy's win record. Now they will face Brodeur's nemesis, Sean Avery.

Brodeur and Avery are forever linked through The Avery Rule.

Avery is making the kind of comeback that has him being called the Rocky of hockey, and the Rangers are considered a Cinderella team.

Avery got the first goal in the Rangers' victory over the Nashville Predators, the last goal in the game in Philadelphia on Saturday, the first goal in New York in a big win over the Flyers and the insurance goal to put the game out of reach, and was named the first star of the game.

Montreal will, no doubt, send an enforcer and several others after Avery as the Flyers, Predators, Hurricanes, Bruins, and Islanders did, expecting him to retaliate and get tossed from the game.

New York will, no doubt, use Avery to draw penalties, score goals, and inspire the rest of the Rangers to play his evolved-but-aggressive style, following Tortorella's game plan, the way they want it in the new NHL.

My prediction: Rangers 4, Canadiens 0, with a hat-trick for Avery and a shut-out for Lundqvist.

Also, soon we will see pigs fly, but we will no longer be surprised.