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Rangers host Canadiens seeking fourth straight victory

Jan 11, 2011 - 4:10 PM (Sports Network) - The New York Rangers will take aim at their longest winning streak in over a year when they host the Montreal Canadiens for tonight's Original Six matchup at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers have won three straight for the fourth time this season, but the Blueshirts haven't claimed four victories in a row since Dec. 17-23 of last season.

New York, which is sixth in the Eastern Conference standings with 53 points, won the last two games of its hot streak on the road and is coming off Saturday's close win in St. Louis. The victory improved New York's road record this season to 15-7-1, which is better than the club's 10-8-2 mark at MSG.

Martin Biron turned aside 24 shots to help the Rangers claim Saturday's 2-1 decision over the Blues. Sean Avery and Derek Stepan each had a goal for the Blueshirts and Brandon Dubinsky assisted on both markers.

"We took the wind out of their sails with the penalty kill tonight," said New York head coach John Tortorella. "We grinded out the win tonight. We were tired, we weren't spot on, but we grinded it out there."

New York, which went 0-for-5 on the power play, also held St. Louis scoreless on six power-play opportunities.

The victory did come at cost, however, as Rangers forward Alexander Frolov tore the ACL in his right knee and is now expected to miss the remainder of the season. Frolov had seven goals and nine assists in 43 games this season, his first with the Rangers.

To try and help alleviate the loss of Frolov, the Rangers made a trade for a forward on Monday, sending defenseman Michal Rozsival to Phoenix in exchange for Wojtek Wolski.

Wolski has six goals and 16 points in 36 games for the Coyotes this season, but he has failed to register a point in seven straight contests. The 24-year- old Wolski, who has 227 points in 356 career NHL games, is expected to play in tonight's game.

"He's a skillful player," Rangers general manager Glen Sather told the Rangers' official web site. "He's got all the talent in the world and the opportunity is here for him to play in a pretty good position. And we look forward to seeing him play."

The Canadiens, who are four points behind the Rangers in the East standings, hope to have gotten themselves back on track with wins in each of their last two outings. Montreal has a 3-0-1 record over its last four games after posting a 2-8-0 mark in its previous 10 tilts.

Montreal has gone past regulation in four straight games and the Habs won Saturday in overtime as Max Pacioretty's goal with 1:17 left in the extra session finished off a three-goal rally in the Habs' 3-2 victory over the visiting Boston Bruins.

Pacioretty tipped in P.K. Subban's centering pass on a 2-on-1 rush, which sealed the game and also briefly put Montreal in a tie with Boston atop the Northeast Division at 49 points. The Bruins now have 51 points thanks to a win over Pittsburgh on Monday.

"It's the biggest goal of my life," Pacioretty said of the game-winner. "I can't really describe how I feel right now, but it's definitely an honor to help this team win like that. It's the biggest game of the year."

Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta each posted goals for the Canadiens and Carey Price turned away 27-of-29 shots in the win.

Montreal will not have forward Mike Cammalleri in the lineup tonight as the diminutive sniper has stayed back in Quebec to deal with a case of the flu. Cammalleri is tied for second on the team with 12 goals this year, but he has gone nine straight games without a marker.

The Canadiens are 9-11-0 as the visiting team this year.

Tonight's tilt marks the first meeting between the Rangers and Habs this year, but it is also the first of two encounters between the clubs this week, as Montreal will host the Blueshirts this Saturday at the Bell Centre.

Montreal has won three of four and six of the last nine overall encounters in its series against New York, but the Rangers have taken two of three and six of eight in the Big Apple.