Rangers at Canadiens preview

RANGERS (13-11-2) at CANADIENS (11-9-5)
7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, MSG 2, NHL.TV

The forward missed 14 games because of a lower-body injury he sustained on Oct. 30. He has seven points (four goals, three assists) in 11 games this season for the Canadiens, who have scored two or fewer goals in four consecutive games. Montreal is 0-3-2 in its past five games.
Backup goalie Alexandar Georgiev will start for the Rangers, who are 1-3-0 in their past four games after going 9-1-1 in their previous 11. New York is looking to end a three-game road losing streak and has been shut out in its past two games away from Madison Square Garden.
Georgiev, who made 38 saves in his first NHL start at Montreal on Feb. 22, is 4-2-0 with a 2.39 goals-against average and .923 save percentage in his past six games (five starts).

Players to watch

Rangers forward Chris Kreider has one goal in the past four games after having nine points (five goals, four assists) in his previous six.
Canadiens forward Max Domi has no points in three games since having 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in an 11-game point streak.

They said it

"You're not going to have your A-game every night, but things you need to rely on are the structure and the process of having success, and I think we've gotten a little bit away from that over the last two road games in particular." -- Rangers coach David Quinn
"Obviously it's a situation we've got to turn around. And we did a lot of good things but we didn't win last game. So continue those things, but bear down and find a way to get those wins." -- Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber

Rangers projected lineup

Jimmy Vesey -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jesper Fast
Chris Kreider -- Kevin Hayes -- Filip Chytil
Lias Andersson -- Brett Howden -- Ryan Strome
Tim Gettinger -- Steven Fogarty -- Vinni Lettieri
Marc Staal -- Neal Pionk
Brady Skjei -- Brendan Smith
Fredrik Claesson -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Alexandar Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched: Tony DeAngelo
Injured: Adam McQuaid (lower body), Pavel Buchnevich (broken thumb), Cody McLeod (fractured left hand), Mats Zuccarello (groin), Vladislav Namestnikov (concussion)

Canadiens projected lineup

Jonathan Drouin -- Max Domi -- Andrew Shaw
Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Paul Byron -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Artturi Lehkonen
Kenny Agostino -- Michael Chaput -- Nicolas Deslauriers
Brett Kulak -- Shea Weber
David Schlemko -- Jeff Petry
Mike Reilly -- Jordie Benn
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched:Xavier Ouellet, Charles Hudon, Matthew Peca
Injured:Noah Juulsen (facial fracture), Joel Armia (lower body), Nikita Scherbak (lower body)

Status report

Lettieri was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Friday. … The Canadiens did not hold a morning skate. … Kulak will play with Weber, switching partners with Schlemko, who practiced with Petry on Friday.

Stat pack

Hayes has three assists in his past three games. … Shaw has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past 10 games. He needs one goal for 100 and one point for 200 in the NHL.