Habs Set To Take On The Rangers Tonight

Heading into tonight, the Canadiens have the best road record in the NHL, boasting a 9-3-2 mark. The Rangers, on the other hand, have been the worst team on home ice, going 3-8-3 at Madison Square Garden thus far this season.

Head coach Martin St. Louis confirmed earlier this morning that Jacob Fowler would indeed make his 2nd straight start tonight. Fowler is coming off an amazing debut on Thursday, and putting him in goal again tonight should allow him to continue to ride the high of his debut for a little longer. More importantly, it will continue to give a boost to the 18 skaters playing in front of him, who got to play in front of a very confident netminder on Thursday, which helped them play their game more. The Habs players weren’t perfect, but they managed to have one of their strongest performances in a while.

In terms of lineup changes, Jake Evans has rejoined the team and will draw back in for Jared Davidson tonight. Evans had allegedly been in Philadelphia on Thursday looking to get a 2nd opinion on a foot injury that he sustained on December 22nd against the Washington Capitals. Given that he’s in the lineup tonight, it appears that he will be able to play through his injury as it heals.

On defence, Arber Xhekaj will return to the lineup in place of Jayden Struble, who has had his fair share of struggles over the last while. At the same time, Xhekaj hasn’t been bad when he’s been in the lineup as of late. Xhekaj is expected to be on a pairing with rookie Adam Engstrom, who will be playing his 4th NHL game tonight. It will be interesting to see how they perform together. This will be the first time this season that Xhekaj will serve as the more experienced defenseman on his pairing.

The New York Rangers will be starting Igor Shesterkin in nets tonight. Shesterkin has had a solid season so far with a .912 save percentage and 2.48 GAA alongside a 12-10-3 record. However, he has been really good in his last 5 games with a .915 save percentage despite facing more shots than he normally does.

Given how Fowler is coming off a strong performance against the Penguins and Shesterkin being really good as well, I’m betting the Under 5.5 goals for tonight’s matchup. The trends are saying that the game will be a low-scoring one. As for the moneyline, the Habs are listed as +120 underdogs and have lost 5 of their 6 games against the Rangers. However, given the momentum of Fowler’s last game and the Rangers’ record at home, they may be a good underdog bet for tonight.

Nick Suzuki has scored 5 goals in his last 4 games against the Rangers and is listed as +225 to score a goal tonight. Combine Suzuki’s goal with the Under and a Habs win to boost your odds to +1200 for a big longshot parlay.

What are your predictions for the Habs against the Rangers?