Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens faceoff for Game 6 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals series live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game can be live streamed for free here. Montreal fans can hear all of the action on TSN 690 while New York fans can do the same on 98.7 ESPN.
Montreal looks to win its second straight elimination game and to force a Game 7 back in Canada while New York hopes to clinch its first spot in the Stanley Cup Finals since it won it all in 1994. New York took Games 1 2 and 4 while Montreal notched victories in Games 3 and 5, most recently winning 7-4 at home on Tuesday.
The Canadiens need players to step up in order to avoid elimination, and Rene Bourque did just that in Game 5 when he notched a hat trick.
"In the end of the regular season, we saw Rene engaged in the game a lot more, moving his feet, being physical, going hard to the net," coach Michel Therrien said Wednesday, according to NHL.com. "He's doing a lot of good things."
Bourque is tied for third on the Canadiens with 11 points off of a team-best eight goals which rank tied for second in the NHL and three assists while Lars Eller is second on the Habs with 13 points off of five tallies and eight helpers and defenseman P.K. Subban leads the team with 14 points, finding the back of the net five times and tying for a team-best nine assists.
The Rangers enter their 20th game of these playoffs looking to avoid a third straight Game 7 this postseason and the team will look to bounce back from a sloppy Game 5 that saw them fall behind 4-1, roar back to tie the game at four goals apiece and then lose 7-4.
"It's an opportunity to win the game to go to the Stanley Cup Final," forward Brad Richards (5-6--11) told NHL.com. "I think everybody is alert and ready that way. We were talking about it all day, how excited we were to get on the ice and start playing"
Martin St. Louis is tied for the team lead in points (13) and goals (six) this postseason and has added seven assists while Derek Stepan also has 13 points off of five markers and eight helpers and defenseman Ryan McDonagh is tied for the team-lead with nine assists while adding three goals to rank second on the team with 12 points.
Stepan came back from missing Game 4 with a broken jaw sustained at the hands of Habs forward Brandon Prust to score two goals in Game 5. Prust is eligible to return tonight while Blueshirts defenseman John Moore was suspended two games for a hit on Dale Weise in Game 5.
In net, Henrik Lundqvist looks to bounce back for New York after getting pulled in Game 5. Lundqvist is 11-7 in these playoffs while ranking second in the NHL with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
Rookie Dustin Tokarski will be back in net for Game 6 as Carey Price has skated but remains out after getting bowled over by Rangers forward Chris Kreider in Game 1. Tokarski is 2-2 with a 2.96 GAA and a .902 save percentage.
The Canadiens look to extend the series to a Game 7 while the Rangers hope to clinch their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 20 years when the puck drops on these two teams for Eastern Conference Finals Game 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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