New York @ Montreal preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 6, 2019 ) Montreal 2, NY Rangers 1

The New York Rangers have charged up the standings in their bid to advance to the postseason and their stellar play away from Madison Square Garden has been pivotal to their success. Winners of four in a row and eight of the last nine, the surging Rangers continue a three-game road trip with a visit to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

New York drew within four points of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with a 4-3 overtime victory at the Islanders to run its road winning streak to a franchise-record eight games. "We're finding a way right now and that's what we need going forward," said Mika Zibanejad, who scored the game-winner in the first minute of overtime Tuesday. "Right now we're just really consistent the way we play and the way we manage games." The Rangers have split a pair of meetings this season with the sputtering Canadiens, who fell nine points of the final playoff slot in the East after blowing a two-goal lead in a 4-3 overtime loss to visiting Vancouver on Tuesday. "If we played as well at home as we do on the road, we'd probably be in the playoff race right now. We know that. It's tough to explain," coach Claude Julien said after Montreal dipped to 13-15-6 at the Bell Centre.

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: MSG2, TSN2, RDS

ABOUT THE RANGERS (34-24-4): New York's three-man logjam at goaltender was temporarily sorted out when rookie sensation Igor Shesterkin suffered a rib injury in a car accident that is expected to sideline him for at least two weeks. Alexandar Georgiev made his first start in nine days and turned aside 42 shots Tuesday and will be back in net Thursday. "We really have a lot of belief in all three of our goalies," coach David Quinn said. "There's a very, very high level of confidence in our locker room that we're not going to miss a beat."

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (29-27-9): Forwards Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin each missed practice Wednesday for therapy days, and it was needed in Drouin's case -- he is a minus-10 and has been held off the scoresheet in all eight games since missing nearly three months due to injury injury. “He’s banged up,” Julien said. “What you see is what you’re getting. So that’s all I can tell you right now.” The Canadiens absorbed another hit on the injury front, announcing that defenseman Victor Mete is done for the season with a fractured foot.

OVERTIME

1. Rangers F Artemi Panarin has five goals and nine assists during a 10-game point streak.

2. Domi has two goals and three assists during a three-game point streak.

3. Zibanejad has scored in five straight contests and has seven goals and as many assists in an eight-game point string.

PREDICTION: Rangers 4, Canadiens 3