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Canadiens-Rangers Preview

Jan 17, 2010 - 6:33 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Montreal (23-21-4) at New York (22-18-7), 7:00 p.m. EDT

The New York Rangers signed Marian Gaborik to boost their sputtering offense. Now, he's not scoring, and they're on another losing streak.

Gaborik will try to avoid his longest goal drought in over two years in order to help the Rangers snap a three-game slide Sunday night when they host the Montreal Canadiens in an Original Six matchup.

New York (22-19-7) averaged 2.47 goals over the last two seasons to rank only better than the New York Islanders' 2.36 in that span.

While Gaborik has been sturdy in his first season for the Rangers - ranking among the league leaders with 28 goals and 54 points - the team is still among the lowest scoring in the NHL at 2.48 goals per game.

Their offensive woes have been evident during a three-game losing streak, which has seen them outscored 7-1, and Gaborik has gone five games without a goal.

A member of Slovakia's team for next month's Olympics in Vancouver, Gaborik hasn't gone six consecutive games without a goal since Oct. 14-25, 2007.

Gaborik and the Rangers struggled offensively again Saturday, losing 4-1 at St. Louis while Brian Boyle ended the team's goal drought at 172 minutes.

"I thought we played some good minutes (Saturday), but again, we just don't score goals," coach John Tortorella said. "... We've just got to keep on grinding through this and try to find a way to have some sort of consistency.

"The big problem for me right now is our top guys are fighting it. ... I believe they're good people and they'll work themselves out of it."

New York's slide has followed an 8-1-3 stretch in which it scored 31 goals.

The Rangers should have Henrik Lundqvist in net after he was rested in favor of backup Chad Johnson, who made 21 saves against the Blues.

Lundqvist is 4-1-2 with a 1.26 goals-against average and a shutout in seven games, but has lost his last two starts despite stopping 77 of 78 shots.

He's 1-1-2 with a 4.51 GAA in four games at Montreal, making 26 saves a 5-4 overtime loss in the Rangers' last visit there Oct. 24, as Michael Cammalleri completed a hat trick with 2:18 remaining in the extra session.

Gaborik, meanwhile, had one goal and one assist in that defeat.

The Canadiens (23-22-4) are having their own scoring problems, getting held to two goals or fewer in five of six games (2-3-1).

They appeared to be headed towards a second consecutive win Saturday, but gave up three unanswered goals and saw all 10 of their third-period shots saved by Mike Brodeur in a 4-2 loss to Ottawa.

"I just wish we wouldn't have left it to a game where we had to tie it up in the last 2 minutes," Cammalleri said. "I thought (Saturday) was our game to come out and compete and win at home and we didn't do that."

Cammalleri is having his own scoring issues, getting one goal and one assist in six games after accumulating two goals and five assists during a six-game point streak.

The left wing leads the Canadiens with 21 goals and is second with 39 points.