Rangers at Canadiens preview

RANGERS (9-9-2) at CANADIENS (11-6-5)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CITY, SNE, TVAS, MSG 2, NHL.TV

Goalie Carey Price will start for the Canadiens, who are 0-1-2 in the past three games, their longest winless streak of the season, after going 4-0-1 in their previous five.
Alexandar Georgiev is expected to start in the second of back-to-back games for New York. Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves in a 4-1 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Friday and remains tied with Curtis Joseph with 454 wins for fifth place on the NHL all-time list.
The Rangers are 2-3-0 in their past five games after going 4-1-1 in their previous six.

Players to watch

Rangers forward Artemi Panarin has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in his past 13 games.
Canadiens forward Phillip Danault has seven points (one goal, six assists) during a five-game point streak.

They said it

"I feel like I'm a broken record at this point because I talk about it after every win, and again after every loss following a pretty good win. We know the formula, and we buy in one game and get away from it the next. It's been like this the last few weeks. We've got to find a way to stop the bleeding." -- Rangers forward Chris Kreider
"He's just so dynamic, the way he sees the ice, the plays he makes. He's one of those guys that creates space for himself when it's not there and that's a pretty elite thing to do. So, he's one of those guys we have to make sure that when he's on the ice, we're aware of it." -- Canadiens forward Nate Thompson on Rangers forward Artemi Panarin

Rangers projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Jesper Fast
Chris Kreider -- Filip Chytil -- Pavel Buchnevich
Brendan Lemieux -- Brett Howden -- Kaapo Kakko
Tim Gettinger -- Greg McKegg -- Brendan Smith
Libor Hajek -- Jacob Trouba
Brady Skjei -- Tony DeAngelo
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
Alexandar Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched: Micheal Haley
Injured: Mika Zibanejad (upper body), Marc Staal (ankle)

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen -- Max Domi -- Nick Suzuki
Charles Hudon -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Joel Armia
Nick Cousins -- Nate Thompson -- Jordan Weal
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Victor Mete -- Jeff Petry
Mike Reilly -- Cale Fleury
Carey Price
Keith Kinkaid
Scratched: Christian Folin, Brett Kulak
Injured: Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Paul Byron (knee)

Status report

The Rangers did not have a morning skate. … Reilly returns after being a healthy scratch for the past six games.

Stat pack

Kakko has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past four games. … Buchnevich will play his 200th NHL game. … Price is two wins from tying Nikolai Khabibulin and Gump Worsley (333) for 24th place on the NHL all-time list. He is one shutout from tying Ken Dryden (46) for third place on Montreal's all-time list.