Glass, Lundqvist help Rangers beat Canadiens 2-0 in Game 1

The scene is set.

The Original Six opponents met in the Eastern Conference Final in the spring of 2014, a series that saw the Canadiens lose goaltender Carey Price in Game 1 in a collision with Rangers winger Chris Kreider. Under Julien, the Canadiens are 16-7-1, only allowing 2.08 goals per game over that stretch.

Of course, we put Kevin on the spot and ask for his New York Rangers round one prediction. The Bruins thought that firing Claude Julien would be a good idea (it wasn’t).

“You have to come in here with the mindset that you want to win and you can just tell right when you walk into the locker room that these guys are winners”, said forward Nick Schmaltz.

You have the same goalies in net.well sort of. The 3.87 GAA and.877 save percentage in his 15 regular-season games in this building?

Carey Price is peaking at the right time and the Canadiens appear to be in Henrik Lundqvist’s head. Oh, but we do have different backup goalies! “His focus and determination really fed to the rest of the team”.

Up front NY have just four forwards left from Game 1 in 2014. The Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi pair was stout after a shaky first period. John Moore and Anton Stralman both long gone, and neither made the playoffs. Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin will miss Game 1 with an injury. “I just think we’re anxious about Game 1 and play that way throughout the whole playoffs”. I’ve been thinking about this for nearly every hour for the past week about the start and get going. We’ve got to step up our physicality.

Almost every other stat, however, suggests that the Bruins are a much better team. “If he can see it, he’s going to save it, and sometimes when he can’t see it he’s going to save it, so we’re going to have to be real sharp with the puck when we get our scoring chances and find ways to maybe get some bounces by him”. Even more baffling have been the Rangers problems winning at home. Meanwhile all six Canadiens fall to the ice simultaneously, earning off-setting diving and interference penalties for the respective teams. The Canadiens surrendered only 2.4 goals per game, which was the fourth-best mark in the league.

NY lost all three meetings with Montreal in the regular season, scoring seven total goals.

Henrik Lundqvist got over his troubles with the Montreal Canadiens in a hurry.

Through the first five days of the playoffs past year, Rogers drew an average of just 513,000 viewers.

This team needs to get ready to be quick and versatile. Price has no chance to stop it, and takes out his frustrations on the skates of Nathan Beaulieu. A playmaker at heart, he led the team in primary assists, shots on goal and power-play points. In 22 career games against Montreal, he is 3-11-14. The Rangers had a two-man advantage late in the period but couldn’t get a second goal.

Max Pacioretty, who led the Canadiens with 35 goals in the regular season, left practice Tuesday after getting hit by a stick.

The confidence comes in that Price, who is playing his best hockey under Julien since his Hart Trophy campaign two years ago, will be there to smooth over the blemishes. Will the Rangers be able to do that again?

For now, fans will enjoy a first round full of Canadian teams. If he sees it, he’s going to save it, and sometimes even when he can’t see it, he saves it. And the Canadiens made it clear by dealing P.K. Subban for Shea Weber that their time to win is now. Unfortunately, Galchenyuk is also a team-worst minus-5. Montreal are down to four d-men and have half the game to play.