Montreal @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 1, 2018 ) NY Rangers 2, Montreal 5

Coming off their highest goal output in nearly 15 months, the Montreal Canadiens are trying to maintain their tenuous hold on a wild-card spot while navigating a rugged stretch that features just one home game in a two-week span. With a three-game trek to California upcoming next week, Montreal winds up a four-game road trip at the New York Rangers on Friday night.

The Canadiens had dropped six of eight games (2-5-1) overall and five straight away from home before erupting for five second-period goals in an 8-1 drubbing of Detroit on Tuesday. "Every team goes into slumps at some point during the year," Montreal coach Claude Julien said. "We needed to get out of it really quickly because of the time of the season." New York is 6-6-3 since the All-Star break and is coming off consecutive overtime losses to reigning Stanley Cup champion Washington and league-best Tampa Bay. "If that's what we're going to do against the elite teams in the league, I like the direction we're going," said Rangers coach David Quinn, whose team has split two meetings with the Canadiens this season.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, RDS, TSN2 (Montreal), MSG (New York)

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (34-23-7): Julien reunited the line of Max Domi, Jonathan Drouin and Andrew Shaw against Detroit and the trio erupted for a dozen points, including a hat trick by Shaw and a career-high five-point game from Domi. Carey Price has allowed seven goals in the two matchups against the Rangers this season but will get the start Friday and may be brought back for Saturday's home game versus Pittsburgh. "As far as back-to-back, as usual I never make those decisions until after the game," Julien said. "We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow night, so we’re going to re-evaluate after the game.”

ABOUT THE RANGERS (27-26-10): Rookie forward Brendan Lemieux, a trade-deadline acquisition from Winnipeg, played a career-high 15:24 in his New York debut and registered a game-best seven hits with two blocked shots against the Lightning. "I'm really fortunate to be here. I'm really happy to be here," Lemieux said. "Getting an opportunity is all I've ever asked for, and I'm getting it." Mika Zibanejad scored his team-leading 27th goal Wednesday, matching his career high that he established in 2017-18, and has thrived against Montreal with one goal and three assists in two meetings this season.

OVERTIME

1. Rangers D Tony DeAngelo has nine assists during a career-best eight-game point streak.

2. Canadiens F Paul Byron sat out Thursday's practice due to the flu.

3. Rangers F Jimmy Vesey has scored a goal and notched multiple points in three straight games.

PREDICTION: Rangers 3, Canadiens 2