Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens faceoff for Game 5 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals series live from the Bell Centre in Montreal. The game can be live streamed for free here. New York fans can hear all of the action on 98.7 ESPN while Montreal fans can do the same on TSN 690.
New York looks to close out the series and make it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since they won it all in 1994 while Montreal hopes to keep the series going and send it back to New York City for Game 6 on Thursday.
The Rangers won Games 1 and 2 in Montreal by 7-2 and 3-1 scores while the Canadiens bounced back in Game 3 in New York with a 3-2 overtime win. The Blueshirts then edged out the Habs 3-2 in overtime in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden to return to Canada with a 3-1 series lead.
The Rangers are one win away from winning the Eastern Conference, but the team knows from its experience of coming back to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games after trailing 3-1 in Round 2, nothing is over yet.
"We've done nothing yet and we keep reminding ourselves, we understand the fourth game is the toughest one to win and we know we're going to have to bring our best and more," Rangers forward Martin St. Louis, who scored the Game 4 OT winner, told NHL.com on Monday.
St. Louis leads the Rangers with 13 points and is tied for the team lead with six goals while adding seven assists. Brad Richards (five goals, six assists), Mats Zuccarello (four tallies, seven helpers) and Derek Stepan (three markers, team-high eight helpers) are tied for second on the team with 11 points in the playoffs.
Stepan broke his jaw and underwent surgery after a hit from Brandon Prust in Game 3, but he may return with a protective mask after missing Game 4 but participating in the Rangers' morning skate Tuesday. Prust will miss Tuesday serving the second and final game of this suspension for the hit.
The Canadiens have come back from 3-1 down to win a series twice in their history, and the team is looking to stay optimistic.
"I think guys were just trying to stay positive," Bourque said Monday per NHL.com. "I thought we played well. We had chances to put it away and it didn't go in and St. Louis got that, he scored on a great shot, kind of hung back there in the zone, but we know we can play with them and just hopefully tomorrow night, we've got to win three games in a row and it starts tomorrow."
P.K. Subban leads the Canadiens with 13 points and is tied for the team lead with five goals while adding eight assists. Lars Eller has also found the twine five times and added six assists this postseason for 11 points and Brendan Gallagher has lit the lamp four times and added six helpers for 10 points.
Goaltender Carey Price skated Monday and Tuesday, but is expected to still be out after suffering a lower-body injury. Rookie netminder Dustin Tokarski will man the crease for the fourth straight game for Montreal and is 1-2 with a 2.62 goals-against average and .917 save percentage this series.
New York counters with Henrik Lundqvist between the pipes, who is 11-7 with a playoff-best 1.98 GAA and .931 save percentage.
The Rangers look to go to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 20 years while the Canadiens try to stave off elimination when these teams take the ice at the Bell Centre in Montreal for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals as part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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