New York Rangers Pregame: Game 5, Rangers at Habs

Eyes On The Prize

The Rangers will have their work cut out for them tonight against the undefeated Montreal Canadiens. In the four games that the Habs have played they have outscored their opponents 13-6 and they have done all of this on the road. Tonight will be the home opener for the Montreal Canadiens, so expect plenty of fireworks and a laser light show to delay the start of the game.

After Tuesday night's debacle it appears that Tanner Glass will be taken out of the lineup. The same is true for Dylan McIlrath who saw just 12:20 TOI against the big, tough Winnipeg Jets. Glass and McIlrath did not take line rushes with the team for their practice on Wednesday morning.

The Rangers projected lineup for tonights' game, as per Andrew Gross:

In addition to Dan Boyle and Jesper Fast returning to the lineup, there's also a chance that we'll see Emerson Etem make his New York Rangers debut. It appears that Dan Boyle will plug right back in on the Rangers' power play, making the Kevin Klein power play experiment come to an abrupt end after 3:19 PP TOI on Tuesday. Jarret Stoll had a rough game against the Jets and Alain Vigneault has been eager to get a look at Emerson Etem. We might just see Vigneault sit Stoll, who has dressed in all of the Rangers' games thus far, and plug in the California-born forward that the Rangers acquired in the Carl Hagelin trade during the offseason.

The Rangers went 0/5 on their power play on Tuesday night. The Jets were 2/5 with their man advantage opportunities. In addition to the two power play goals the Rangers allowed, they also allowed their first shorthanded goal of the season to Bryan Little after losing a defensive zone draw after a terrible power play icing. Needless to say, the special teams play has to be markedly better tonight than it was on Tuesday at the Garden. Two of the Habs' 13 goals have come on the power play and through the first four games of the season Montreal has been on the man advantage 16 times.

Hopefully we'll see the Rangers put Tuesday's loss behind them as they take on the team that most have picked to finish second in the Atlantic Division. The two best goaltenders in the world will be facing off against one another tonight, something tells me we're about to get treated to a few more highlight reel saves from Hank.

Thanks for reading. Let's go Rangers.

What should the fourth line for tonight's game be?