Canadiens at Rangers preview

CANADIENS (34-23-7) at RANGERS (27-26-10)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, RDS, TSN2, NHL.TV

Price, who has 312 NHL victories, all with Montreal, is two behind Jacques Plante (314) for first all-time in victories by a Canadiens goalie.
Montreal holds the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference; the Canadiens are one point ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins and seven points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Defenseman
Libor Hajek
will make his NHL debut for the Rangers. The 21-year-old, who was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Thursday, has five assists in 58 AHL games this season.
New York is 10 points behind the Hurricanes for the second wild card in the East.

Players to watch

Canadiens forward Max Domi had an NHL career-high five points in an 8-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday and has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past six games.
Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey has a goal and an assist in each of his past three games.

They said it

"It just seems like to me the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers seem to have some exciting games in this building every time we are in here." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien on playing in Madison Square Garden
"It's my first year (as a) pro, so I am still kind of getting used to it. It's not (my) greatest season, it's pretty tough but I'm just going to keep working hard, and keep trying to play my game" -- Rangers defenseman Libor Hajek who will make his NHL debut on Friday

Canadiens projected lineup

Jonathan Drouin -- Max Domi -- Andrew Shaw
Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Joel Armia
Jordan Weal -- Nate Thompson -- Dale Weise
Victor Mete -- Shea Weber
Christian Folin -- Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak -- Jordie Benn
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched:Charles Hudon, Nicolas Deslauriers, Paul Byron, Mike Rielly, Matthew Peca
Injured:None

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jimmy Vesey
Vladislav Namestnikov -- Ryan Strome -- Jesper Fast
Brendan Lemieux -- Lias Andersson -- Pavel Buchnevich
Brendan Smith -- Boo Nieves --
Connor Brickley
Marc Staal -- Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei -- Kevin Shattenkirk

Libor Hajek -- Neal Pionk
Henrik Lundqvist
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched: Filip Chytil , Fredrik Claesson
Injured:Brett Howden (MCL sprain)

Status report

The Rangers did not skate, and the Canadiens held an optional skate. ... Julien said the lineup would be a game-time decision, but Weal, who was acquired in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes on Monday, could make his Canadiens debut. … Hajek will skate with Pionk and replace Claesson.

Stat pack

Danault has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 10 games against the Rangers, his most points against any team. ... DeAngelo has nine assists during an eight-game point streak. The Rangers, who lost 4-3 in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, are 8-0-2 in their past 10 games following a loss.