Game Eighteen: Rangers vs. Habs

First Period:

- So Prust and Gallagher are in, Bourque is out with the flu, otherwise White would have been odd-man out.

- Beautiful pass by Gallagher right on Desharnais' tape for the break. I think Halpern coming back knocked the puck away from going into the net.

- Del Zotto's scratch tonight gives Habs a bit more opportunity to crash the net. Watch for that as game progresses.

- Ryan White, soft hands you have not.

- Boullion with an excellent blind backhand clearance right up the middle. Please stop.

- Habs forwards doing a good job bottling up the neutral zone, Rangers having a tough time organizing much of an effective transition.

- Not sure if its a bad case of snakebite, but Cole needs to start producing from these opportunities.

- Prust on the Plekanec line has definitely provided an aggressive punch. Creating quality chances on Biron.

- Just 2 shots on the clock for Habs with 4 minutes left. That can't be right, can it?

- Game has a more energized pace compared to the Tuesday night snoozer in New York, but not by much. Both teams do excellent man-to-man defensive coverage, nobody buckling yet. Garbage goals will likely decide this one.

- Best bodycheck of the game thrown by referee Brad Miere. Awesome.

- There's the Plekanec line again, giving the Rangers headaches. Habs to the PP.

- First Period summary: Glad I'm not a paying customer tonight. Zzzzz.

- The RDS guys just flashed a graphic - Biron has 3rd most wins among active NHL goaltenders.

Second Period:

- I don't want to look too far ahead, but if there are two teams that I do not want to see face each other in the playoffs, it's these two.

- Erik Cole. There we go, flippin' finally he scores. Courtesy massive Rangers defensive lapse. Torts is furious. 1-0.

- Pacioretty took blindside hit right in front of his bench. In considerable pain.

- Mcdonagh hit Pacioretty and then a shift later delivered a high stick to Prust's face, neither called.

- Correction, Mcdonagh elbowed Prust. Was still a very obvious penalty not called.

- Pacioretty kindly provides Mcdonagh a taste of his own medicine, and is assessed a boarding penalty. Resisting snarky officiating comment here.

- Mcdonagh gone to the dressing room. I think a couple of his teeth are still somewhere on the ice.

- Rangers powerplay looks terrible. They gotta somehow get that fixed. By the way, it was also broken when Nash was in the lineup.

- No love loss between these two. Hits are brutal out there. Hope there aren't too many injuries after this one is finished.

- Biron goes wandering and gets caught. Plekanec left with a totally wide open net from 25 feet. Fires a shot seven feet wide and high. Maybe he thought it was a soccer net?

- Love icings? Habs and Rangers are here to satisfy your cravings.

- Don't know if that will count but that was a beautiful goal by Galchenyuk.

- If Eller swiped that in with a high stick it was completely unnecessary. The puck was already well on its way to going in.

- Ruled a good goal. Eller might be breathing a sigh of relief. Therrien doesn't like stupid and/or selfish plays. He might have been benched for the violation.

- Prust is a body crashing monster out there, but his odd man rush executions are ummm ... not so great.

- My mind is boggled by the thought of how good Galchenyuk will be once he gets better.

- Habs demonstrate how not to execute a 3-on-1 break.

- Markov not nearly as dangerous or commanding on the man advantage as he was the start of the year. It's a mystery.

- Don't wanna hex this, but given how this Rangers offense is playing right now, I can't see how they could possibly come back down 3-0.

- All Habs in the 2nd. Rangers look like a non-playoff team tonight. Cruise mode should easily bring this one home.

Third Period:

- Mcdonagh hasn't come back since the Paciiretty hit. His head was crunched against the unforgiving Bell Centre boards, so start making your own assumptions.

- Okay, the Rangers absolutely have to score on this powerplay. Zero shots their last one.

- Eller shorthanded rush. More reason why the Habs organization would be crazy to give up on him.

- I didn't think it possible, but that Rangers man advantage was worse than its last one.

- I know NHL players make a ton of money but I'll being going to bed tonight glad I'm not on the Rangers' roster. I'd hate to think what drills Torts will put them through in response to tonight's dreadful performance.

- Habs get a nice little test Monday in Ottawa against the banged up Sens. At least tonight's win keeps first place in tact.

Game Preview:

Okay, so blowing a game against the overmatched Islanders wasn't very much fun, but this stuff happens. The Habs either wouldn't or couldn't keep pace with the Islanders' , and much like we endured numerous times last season, the Canadiens faded the final 20 minutes, and let reasonably comfortable leads turn into defeats. While the bottom line totals are very impressive, 11 wins in 17 games, the loss to New York, and a previous loss two weeks ago to Buffalo where a 3-goal 3rd period lead was blow (not to mention the blow 3 goal lead to Tampa 10 days ago) must remain an ongoing concern.

Anyway this still doesn't take away from a pretty impressive string of victories, most recently against the Rangers in Manhattan. Tonight, the Habs have a few banged up bodies which may or may not play. Brendan Gallagher is almost certain to return tonight, although there are questions surrounding the health of Brendon Prust, who is an "upper body" injury is gametime decision, according to coach Therrien.

As per the previous game, the Rangers' powerplay is a mess - so like Tuesday night, if they can finally start producing with the man advantage, their chances of winning will improve dramatically. That said, New York will once again be without the services of Rick Nash, who will miss his third straight start. The Bell Centre hasn't also been a very friendly place for the blue shirts, 6 losses the past 6 games in Montreal, in three of those games, New York was shut out.

Martin Biron, who's played will in the past, will start for the Rangers, and as usual, Carey Price will start for the Habs.

Puck drops at 7:15 EST!

Game Sixteen: Habs vs. Rangers

First Period:

- Habs keeping it very basic early on - being very cautious mindful of the Rangers' offensive advantages. Clearing zone as quickly as possible, not being afraid to ice the puck if nobody is open.

- Really solid shift for Desharnais line, aggressive forechecking creating turnovers in Rangers zone. NY on their heels there.

- Halfway through the 1st, one shot registered by the Rangers. Zip for Habs. Ouch.

- Rangers have nearly twice as many wins as they do powerplay goals. That ain't good.

- If Price sees it, it's going to be stopped. Also, zero rebounds surrendered.

- Habs are seriously in danger of not getting a shot in this period.

- There it is. Habs register their first shot of the game with less than 4 minutes left in the 1st.

- Rangers zone defense is ridiculously disciplined. They suffocate the opposition from setting up for any quality chances. Simply no where to go, no where to pass.

- Habs 4th line has been the most dangerous tonight, grinding out chances. Really, that's the only way the Habs will score tonight - dirty, hard-fought goals.

- 8 total shots in the period, 5 of them by New York. This game isn't much fun to watch, unless you enjoy defensive clinics.

Second Period:

- Big pressure by Desharnais line, Lundqvist quality saves, no juicy rebounds.

- Elite goaltender vs. elite goaltender. Who'll blink first?

- Definitely more free-reeling period compared to the first. Surely a goal is coming soon ...

- Habs can crash Lundvqist all night long, but Rangers blue liners aren't surrendering the slot for any shots or passes. It's an impenetrable shield surrounding that New York net.

- Credit other direction, has anyone yet noted Habs have only surrendered one goal the past 11 periods?

- Nevermind that last point. Subban delayed penalty call, everyone just seemed to disengage and coast, leaving Stralman alone for a routine tip-in past Price. Bad, bad goal. Rangers lead 1-0.

- 8 shots in just under 40 minutes isn't gonna do the job.

- Nevermind that last point as well. Pacioretty one timer from Gorges, Lundqvist knocking himself for letting that past. Tie game. Rangers defense rare surrender of the slot gives Patches the room he needed to pull the trigger.

- Once again Habs find themselves even on the scoreboard after two periods. The team has thrived this season under such a scenario - can they pull out yet another late game win?

Third Period:

- Terrific defensive block by Eller, and the Rangers, so stellar throughout the night, leave Lundqvist out to dry on the ensuing Habs rush. Galchenyuk scores to give the Habs the lead. This hard working line, Eller/Galchenyuk/Prust richly rewarded.

- Therrien throws Eller line right back out there, and Prust nearly makes it a two goal lead.

- Sloppy point giveaway but excellent recovery by Emelin, who's been a rock on the Habs blue line tonight.

- Aside from that atrocious first goal, Habs forwards hustling back hard on every New York rush.

- Markov can't handle the contact behind his net, coughs up the puck and the Rangers nearly score about a half second later. It happens that fast in the NHL.

- Habs three icings in less than 30 seconds. Eller line is exhausted.

- Officials confer and realize icing was incorrectly called. TV timeout arrives. Habs forwards can catch their breath.

- Subban falls behind his net, surrenders the puck, Rangers very nearly score two seconds later. Think Plekanec played some goal there to keep Habs in the lead.

- Habs finally get a powerplay, courtesy a disastrous line change by New York.

- Eller line has been fantastic in the 3rd period. Rangers are fit to be tied.

- Price robs Boyle on shorthanded 2-on-1 Rangers break.

- Habs PP really needs to be a point of concern. A mere shadow of their early season self.

- Playing with fire here, slot coverage wayyyy to soft.

- Bad news, Habs penalized with 3 minutes left. Worse news, it's Plekanec.

- Watched the replay, that was a pretty soft interference call.

- Habs holding on for dear life here.

- Hoping Eller scores on the empty Rangers net - he deserves it.

- It wasn't Eller, but it is Diaz into the net, and the Canadiens win a huge game. I think this one cements what we've been suspecting for weeks - this Habs team is for real.

The Drive for 5 is ALIVE

Wow. Here we are. Gunning for a fifth straight win. When did that last happen for we Habs fans? Who knows - do I look like a statistician?

Tonight, we're in tough. The Rangers, who weren't exactly setting the world on fire the first two weeks of the season, but have since began to settle down a bit, winning 4 of their past five, most recently against the Caps (no big deal) on Sunday night, and also be the Bruins last week, which ain't too shabby.

Rangers also have not lost a single time to anyone playing outside of their Division this season.

So something's gotta give tonight.

Habs will obviously have to keep their eye on the usual Rangers suspects, Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik ... this team does not lack offensive depth. A big break for the Habs came late today when the Ranger announced that Rick Nash will not be in the lineup. Meanwhile Marc Staal is making solid contributions from the blue line, Ryan Mcdonagh remains an agonizing memory amongst Habs fans, but let's not pick that still smarting, still raw wound.

Weaknesses for New York? Their powerplay is kind of a mess, go figure. Clocking in at just over a pathetic 11%, the unit is ranked last in the League. Their PK is significantly better, just a tad over 84%, good for 8th in the League.

Montreal's powerplay, even with the recent winning streak, has also looked pretty shabby of late. So throw that all together, and if one of these two teams can start producing tonight with the man advantage, it would probably go a long way towards earning a victory.

Carey Price, he who was having fluids fed into his body via a tube less than 48 hours ago, will start. Great thanks to Peter Budaj who admirably stepped into the line of fire, and reeled off two sweet wins. Have a seat Peter. We'll talk to you again some time in March.

What else. Same lineup tonight as last night, which means Ryan White is in. That's fine. He played a pretty solid game against the Hurricanes, so more redemptive icetime is clearly in order.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST! Enjoy the game!

PETER BUDAJ FOR VEZNIA.

Sorry Cam, not this year.

Game preview later today! First place, baby!