NHL: The Canadiens host the Rangers at the Bell Center

The game between the Rangers and the Canadiens continued with the pre-game from 6:30 pm on the RDS and RDS.ca.
Avant-match Rangers-CH

After starting their season on the right foot with two wins in their first three games, the Montreal Canadiens are in the midst of a three-game losing streak and Martin St-Louis’ men will have a tough opponent to try to stop put on . Tuesday night at the Bell Center.

The New York Rangers and their four wins in five games are the visitors. They have the best points percentage in the East this season and the second best in the NHL, behind the Winnipeg Jets.

The Habs, however, will be without the services of forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who has an upper body injury. The latter will miss a week of action and will be re-evaluated afterwards, the team confirmed this morning.

He was alone on Tuesday morning, before leaving the ice when his teammates arrived for the morning skate. On Monday, he missed training to benefit from a day of treatment.

The 20-year-old Slovakian is second in team scoring this season with six points in as many games.

After also missing training on Monday, defender Mike Matheson trained on Tuesday, but that was optional. Nick Suzuki, Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher, Alex Newhook and David Savard did not participate.

Without Slafkovsky, Martin St-Louis will take the opportunity to shake things up a bit. Kirby Dach will play alongside Cole Caufield and Suzuki, while Oliver Kapanen will benefit from promotion and join Joel Armia and Alex Newhook on the second line. Michael Pezzetta will be integrated into the training.

“I expect both players to play hockey,” St-Louis said of Dach and Kapanen. You can never have too many outlets. I love central players who can play on the wing. This is a more comfortable position for Kapanen and may take some responsibility from Dach. He plays with Suzuki and Caufield on the power play so there may be some chemistry there. »

Samuel Montembeault will front the cage for the Habs, who has allowed 14 goals in his last three games. The Rangers, for their part, have scored at least four goals in each of their five games this season.

The Rangers’ offensive success this season is largely due to the performance of star player Artemi Panarin, who leads the NHL with 12 points and is second with six goals.