New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 3/9/2023

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: Centre Bell, Montreal, QE

Where to watch: RDS, TSN2, MSG

DraftKings: Rangers -275, Habs +220

BetMGM: Rangers -275, Habs +220

Caesars: Rangers -275, Habs +220

Rangers: 35-19-9

Canadiens: 26-33-5

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The New York Rangers will be playing the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, March 9 in Montreal.

The New York Rangers lost against the Boston Bruins last Saturday, March 4 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts with a score of 4-2. The New York Rangers currently rank 3rd in the Metropolitan Division.

Alexis Lafrenière scored twice, and Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves for the Rangers (35-19-9), who have lost six of eight (2-5-1).

New York is third in the Metropolitan Division, seven points behind the New Jersey Devils for second and seven ahead of the New York Islanders, who are in fourth.

"We didn't create enough in the first two [periods], but I thought overall it was pretty good," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "We had a chance going into the third, 2-1 down with an opportunity, but we didn't (score). Like I said, there was a lot of good, but there was some bad too."

The Rangers played with 16 skaters (11 forwards, five defensemen) due to injuries to defenseman Ryan Lindgren (upper body) and forward Tyler Motte (upper body). Defenseman K'Andre Miller was serving the final game of a three-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct.

"I think that was a step in the right direction," New York defenseman Braden Schneider said. "Over these next couple days, we can get rested up and get some more bodies back and get rolling because I thought tonight was a good effort."

Boston scored two goals before Lafreniere cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 7:03 of the period, tipping Jacob Trouba's point shot under the crossbar.

"I can be better," Lafreniere said. "There's always ways to play better, and I think for me it's just trying to make plays and try to be responsible in my own end. I think that's all you can focus on, and after, just have fun, and like I said, try to make plays."

Boston scored two more goals before Lafreniere scored again from a tight angle on the right side at 18:34 for the 4-2 final.

The New York Rangers have won four of their last 10 games.

The Montreal Canadiens lost against the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday, March 7 at Bell Centre in Montreal with a score of 4-3 resulting from a shootout. The Montreal Canadiens currently rank 8th in the Atlantic Division.

Alex Belzile and Michael Pezzetta each had a goal and an assist, Chris Tierney had two assists, and Allen made 36 saves for Montreal (26-33-5) which had lost three in a row to conclude a four-game road trip.

"You've got to give a lot of credit to all these guys in this room. It's not an easy team to play to begin with," Jake Allen said. "But the situation we're in, after coming off almost two weeks on the road, to come back from a West Coast trip, the first game's always really difficult [and] you don't have your legs.

"I was really impressed and proud of that group, the way they battled against a [heck] of a hockey team in a tough circumstance."

Belzile gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 10:17 of the first period when he kicked a rebound to his stick before scoring on a backhand.

Mike Hoffman made it 2-0 at 16:16. Jonathan Drouin drove across the crease with the puck but had it poke-checked away by Shayne Gostisbehere to Hoffman crashing the net.

Carolina scored two goals to tie the game. Pezzetta restored Montreal's lead at 2:49, tipping in a centering pass by Tierney to make it 3-2.

"Chris is super-skilled and slows the game down," Pezzetta said. "So, for me and [Belzile], we like to play hard, we like to play fast. With Chris, he can really settle pucks down and make soft little plays. It's nice knowing that I'm going to take off and he's going to feather one in or make soft little chip plays to beat one of their defenders and open up space for us. It's really good playing with him."

Jesper Fast tied the game with 3:38 remaining in the third period for Carolina, and they rallied to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout.

The Montreal Canadiens have won three of their last 10 games.

Prediction

If there was a time to finally win for the Rangers, it'd be now. Rangers 5, Canadiens 2

Rangers:

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Artemi Panarin -- Vincent Trocheck -- Patrick Kane

Alexis Lafreniere -- Filip Chytil -- Kaapo Kakko

Jimmy Vesey -- Barclay Goodrow

Niko Mikkola -- Adam Fox

Ben Harpur -- Jacob Trouba

Braden Schneider

Igor Shesterkin

Canadiens:

Mike Hoffman -- Nick Suzuki -- Denis Gurianov

Rafael Harvey-Pinard -- Jonathan Drouin -- Josh Anderson

Rem Pitlick -- Christian Dvorak -- Jesse Ylonen

Michael Pezzetta -- Chris Tierney -- Alex Belzile

Mike Matheson -- David Savard

Kaiden Guhle -- Joel Edmundson

Jordan Harris -- Johnathan Kovacevic

Jake Allen