Jan 16 Canadiens vs Rangers Preview

What you need to know about the Canadiens match up against the Rangers:

What a disappointing loss the Canadiens had at home against the Ottawa Senators 4-2. Price let in 3 goals on 27 shots, with 2 goals being of the soft variety.

The good news for the Canadiens is that Plekanec finally got his first goal and point of 2010, when he gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead early in the 2nd period. Benoit Pouliot also added another goal, keeping pace with his trade partner Guillaume Latendresse.

Andrei Markov had his worst +/- game so far this season, with a -3 on the night.

However, the Canadiens need to shake all that off when they board the plan to New York tonight, and make their way to face the New York Rangers. The Canadiens already hold a victory over the Rangers in the only game they played so far this season.

This will be the Canadiens' 3rd game in 4 nights. The Canadiens will have 2 days off being enduring yet another stretch of 3 games in 4 nights.

Halak was the game winner goaltender on Oct 24th when the Canadiens got the 5-4 win in OT, and I strongly suspect he will get the start on Sunday.

While being held pointless against the Senators, Cammalleri did score an impressive goal against the Dallas Stars, and did score a hat trick against the Rangers in their only meeting so far this year.

The Canadiens' #1 power play, who is coming off a 0-6 performance against the Senators, will be taking on the league's 3rd best penalty kill.

The Rangers are coming off 3 straight losses, including being shut out against New Jersey and Ottawa. With the team only scoring a total of 1 goal in those 3 games, none of their players are considered "hot".

And if he is not injuring former Canadiens (Ribeiro), former Hab Chris Higgins isn't doing much to play his way out of the dog house. Higgins only has 1 goal on 41 shots in his last 17 games, and is a -4.

The Rangers may be a tired team, as they have seen their shots per game go from 51 against New Jersey, to 32 against the Senators, all the way down to 22 Saturday night against the Blues.

Tags: Andrei Markov \ Halak \ Higgins \ Mike Cammalleri \ Montreal Canadiens \ New York Rangers \ Plekanec \ Pouliot \ Price