Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Rangers: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 1/15/2023

Time: 5 p.m. ET

Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Where to watch: MSG, TSN2, RDS

DraftKings: NL

FanDuel: NL

BetMGM: NL

Caesars: NL

Canadiens: 17-23-3

Rangers: 24-12-7

Habs: lost 2-1 at Islanders

Rangers: won 2-1 (OT) vs. Stars

The New York Rangers will try to continue a hot run of their own when they take on the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, with the home team looking for their second three-game winning streak since the calendar turned to 2023.

New York is on a seven-game point streak overall and are suddenly looking like the team that was on the cusp of the Stanley Cup Final last season. The Rangers are coming off a 2-1 overtime victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday, a game that saw K’Andre Miller score the game-tying goal with 0.9 seconds left in regulation, and then Adam Fox with the game-winner in overtime.

Igor Shesterkin did a great job holding a high-octane Dallas offense to just one goal, stopping 24 of 25 shots and getting another win.

"My mom texted me today and she was giving me a lot of motivation, so it's pretty easy for myself to focus up for these types of games when I have support like that from her," Miller said. "I think the biggest thing would be just that she loves me and she's proud of me and she's there even though she's not there. Games like these, I know she's not in the stands, but I feel her presence and I think that's everything in a mother-son relationship. It's a special bond."

It hasn’t been the easiest of seasons for the Rangers, but winning five of their last six with an emphasis of scoring. The over has cashed in four of the last six, but the unders have also hit as of note with the last game cashing at under 5.5. This latest run has come at a great time for New York, now third in the Metro and just six points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for tops in the division.

The Canadiens, meanwhile, still have a long way to go to catch up to everyone, but they’re definitely exciting to watch on any given night. The young talent of Montreal has been doing well, but they haven’t been able to quite get the job done. Montreal has lost eight of its last 10 with the latest benign a 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

"Could we have started better? For sure," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "If you're asking me if I was as disappointed as the first period of the Seattle game (a 4-0 loss on Monday)? No."  

Montreal has lost eight of 10 and it’s been a myriad of ways, whether they’ve scored goals or not. There’s no middle ground to help them some certain way or not.

I take the team that’s going to run with more energy and not out of the hope Montreal can find it together for at least one win and tread water like it has been. I like what the Rangers are doing right now. Rangers 4, Canadiens 2

Canadiens are 1-4 in their last five when the opponent allows 2 goals or less in the last game.

Over is 6-2 in Montreal’s last eight Sunday games.

Road team is 7-1 in the last eight meetings.

Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Kirby Dach

Evgenii Dadonov -- Jake Evans -- Joel Armia

Juraj Slafkovsky -- Christian Dvorak -- Josh Anderson

Michael Pezzetta -- Jonathan Drouin -- Jesse Ylonen  

Joel Edmundson -- David Savard

Jordan Harris -- Johnathan Kovacevic

Arber Xhekaj -- Chris Wideman

Sam Montembeault

Alexis Lafreniere -- Mika Zibanejad -- Kaapo Kakko

Artemi Panarin -- Vincent Trocheck -- Vitali Kravtsov

Barclay Goodrow -- Filip Chytil -- Jimmy Vesey

Sammy Blais -- Jonny Brodzinski -- Julien Gauthier

Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox

K'Andre Miller -- Jacob Trouba

Ben Harpur -- Braden Schneider

Igor Shesterkin