The Montreal Canadiens will play the New York Rangers on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Montreal has lost two of their last three games, while New York is on a five game winning streak. Let’s take a look at the betting matchup and the Canadiens vs Rangers prediction.
Canadiens Preview
The Montreal Canadiens are 22-23-8 this season after they defeated the Ducks by a score of 5-0 in their last game. Montreal scored three times in the second period and twice in the third for the shutout win. The Canadiens out shot Anaheim by a total of 38-13 and went 2-6 on the power play in the game. Montreal lost to St. Louis by a score of 7-2 and Dallas by a score of 3-2 in the two games prior to Anaheim. The Canadiens are scoring 2.75 goals per game and they are allowing 3.45 goals against per game, while going 19.9% on the power play and 74.3% on the penalty kill. Nick Suzuki has led Montreal with 19 goals, 32 assists, and 120 shots on goal. The projected starting goalie for Montreal is Sam Montembeault, who is 12-8-4 this season with a 3.06 goals against average and a .908 save percentage.
Rangers Preview
The New York Rangers are 34-16-3 this year after they defeated the Flames by a score of 2-0 in their last game. New York scored once in the second period and once in the third for the shutout win. The Rangers out shot Calgary by a total of 31-29 and went 0-3 on the power play in the game. New York has also defeated Chicago, Tampa Bay, Colorado, and Ottawa during this winning streak. The Rangers are scoring 3.23 goals per game and they are allowing 2.74 goals against per game, while going 25.6% on the power play and 83.7% on the penalty kill. Artemi Panarin has led New York with 31 goals, 37 assists, and 201 shots on goal. The projected starting goalie for New York is Igor Shesterkin, who is 21-12-1 this year with a 2.78 goals against average and a .902 save percentage.
Canadiens vs Rangers Betting Prediction
New York comes into this game playing very well and they have won five games in a row, while Montreal has lost two of their last three. The Rangers are 18-7-0 at home this season and they have played very strong defense recently, allowing two goals or fewer in four of their last five games. Montreal is coming off of a shutout win over the lowly Ducks and they are 11-9-5 on the road. New York has been very solid defensively and the Montreal goal scoring has been inconsistent, so take the under in this matchup.