BROSSARD, Que. — After spoiling three home-openers in Toronto, Ottawa and Pittsburgh, the Montreal Canadiens (4-0-0) will attempt to avoid having the tables turned on them when they open the Bell Centre Thursday to host the New York Rangers (3-1-0).
“Tonight, the challenge is just to focus about the way we play,” said head coach Michel Therrien. “We all understand this is our first game in Montreal and we want to make sure that we establish ourselves as a good team at home—we did that in the past. Tonight, this is a first opportunity to do it against a really good team.”
A win for the Canadiens would mark the first time in their 106-year history that they’ve started a season with five straight victories.
The game will feature Montreal’s Carey Price and New York’s Henrik Lundqvist—widely considered the best goaltenders in the NHL.
Price recorded wins in both starts against the Rangers last season, improving his personal regular season record against New York to 10-5-1 (including six shutouts).
Lundqvist has struggled mightily in the regular season at the Bell Centre throughout his career. He’s 4-6-2 with a sub-.900 save percentage and a goals against average over 4.00.
No changes are expected to Montreal’s lineup, nor do they have any intention of altering the strategy that had them win four games on the road to start the season.
“I still think that there are some areas to our game that we gotta clean up,” said defenceman P.K. Subban. “I know personally, just being out there on the ice, I think sometimes we’re allowing a bit too many scoring opportunities for other teams, so maybe we want to tighten things up in the [defensive] zone. But overall, we have to feel pretty confident about the way we’re playing.”
Another area in which the Canadiens could stand to improve is on their power play, having gone 2-16 with the man-advantage so far this season.
The Rangers, who have also struggled on the power play (1-9) to start the year, elected not to take their scheduled morning skate at the Bell Centre.
Coming off a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault is making some changes to his lineup.
Veteran defenceman Dan Boyle, who sat as a healthy scratch for Tuesday’s game, will return to the lineup. Forward Emerson Etem, who was traded to New York from the Anaheim Ducks in the off-season, is set to make his Rangers debut. Etem will be taking Jarret Stoll’s place on the fourth line.
The game is set for 7:30pm ET on Sportsnet 360.
Habs react to Blue Jays win:
Subban on José Bautista’s three-run homerun and his now-infamous bat-flip in the bottom of the 7th inning:
“Pretty special moment for [Bautista]. He’s put in his time in Toronto as a Blue Jay and it’s good to see him get rewarded for all the hard work that he’s put into trying to do the best that he can to help the team win.
“It’s only fitting that [Bautista] be the guy to put them over the top.
“I loved the [bat-flip]. I’m not going to name any names, but I heard someone kinda taking shots at him. I mean; people just need to shut up and enjoy it. It’s a special moment and I hope he does it again. I loved it. I enjoyed it and it even made [the moment] that much better.”
Will Bautista’s gesture serve as inspiration for a new goal celebration for Subban?
“I don’t know if I can do a stick-flip out there. Maybe after a one-timer, you flip the stick up… I don’t know; that’s not really my style. I’ll leave the flipping to Joey Bats.”
Brendan Gallagher:
“Me and [Devante Smith-Pelly] started jumping around and we might have even hugged each other [after Bautista’s homerun].
“I’ve been a Jays fan for a while, and I’ve been waiting a long time to enjoy this.
“When you look at all the emotions that were involved [in the seventh inning]—obviously as fans we were feeling the same thing—for those players to keep their composure and understand they still had a job to do was pretty special. Obviously, they showed a lot of resolve. That’s a pretty special team they’ve got over there.”
How does the game rank among other sporting events Gallagher’s watched over his lifetime?
“I would say that was the best thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t remember, as a fan, my emotions going so low and then so high at once. I think all of Canada was feeling the same thing.”
Gallagher on the controversy surrounding Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin’s throw back to the mound resulting in a run scored for the Texas Rangers in the top of the seventh inning:
“I was pretty confused. I thought the ump called time, and I didn’t know you could still score when time was called. I would’ve probably had been kicked out of the game with Mark Buerhle sitting in the dugout, but those players did a pretty good job of staying focused.”
Therrien on the Blue Jays game:
“[I watched] a little bit. Honestly, not the whole thing. I didn’t see the seventh inning—I heard about it, but I missed it.
“Pretty crazy game. This is great. This is great for sports fans all around the country, and I’m certainly becoming a Blue Jays fan.”
