Rangers at Canadiens preview

RANGERS (27-28-5) at CANADIENS (22-29-8)
7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, MSG 2, NHL.TV

New York, which will try to avoid its fifth straight loss, trails the Columbus Blue Jackets by six points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Goaltender Antti Niemi will start for the Canadiens; No. 1 goaltender Carey Price will be out indefinitely with a concussion after being hit on the mask by a shot during a 3-2 overtime loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. Rookie Charlie Lindgren was recalled on an emergency basis from Laval of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
The Canadiens, who are 0-4-2 in their past six games, are 13 points behind Columbus for the second wild card in the East.

Players to watch

Georgiev, 22, was 8-0-1 with a 1.76 goals-against-average, a .948 save percentage and two shutouts in his past nine games with Hartford of the American Hockey League.
Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past eight games.

They said it

"He's getting it here tonight in one of the best buildings in the League and hopefully we'll play real hard in front of him and he'll have a good game for us."-- Rangers coach Alain Vigneault about goaltender Alexandar Georgiev
"It hasn't been an easy season, but you hope that your players will be hardened by these situations." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Rangers projected lineup

Vinni Lettieri
-- Mika Zibanejad -- Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey -- Kevin Hayes -- Mats Zuccarello
Paul Carey -- David Desharnais -- Jesper Fast
Cody McLeod -- Peter Holland - J.T. Miller
Brady Skjei --
Neal Pionk
Marc Staal -- Tony DeAngelo
Rob O'Gara
--
John Gilmour
Alexandar Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched:Rick Nash, Michael Grabner
Injured:Chris Kreider (blood clot), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee), Ondrej Pavelec (knee), Ryan McDonagh (upper body), Steven Kampfer (hand)

Canadiens projected lineup

Max Pacioretty -- Jonathan Drouin -- Artturi Lehkonen
Paul Byron -- Tomas Plekanec -- Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk -- Phillip Danault -- Charles Hudon
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Byron Froese -- Logan Shaw
Jordie Benn -- Jeff Petry
Karl Alzner -- Joe Morrow
Victor Mete -- David Schlemko
Antti Niemi
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched:Daniel Carr, Jacob de la Rose, Noah Juulsen](https://www.nhl.com/player/noah-juulsen-8478454)
Injured:Carey Price (concussion), Shea Weber (left foot), Andrew Shaw (lower body), Ales Hemsky (upper body)

Status report

Nash and Grabner were scratched for precautionary reasons; each is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and could be traded. Staal returns after missing eight games because of a cervical strain. Kreider, who hasn't played since Dec. 27, has been cleared to play and could return Friday against the Minnesota Wild or Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings. … Weber will have surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left foot and will not return this season. ... Price will be sidelined indefinitely.

Stat pack

Lundqvist is 0-4-0 with a 4.78 GAA and .859 save percentage in his past four starts. … The Canadiens lost seven straight (0-6-1) from Oct. 7-20.