(My Sportsbook) - Montreal Canadiens fans had a reason to cheer the last time their team took the ice, but it didn't have anything to do with the home club's play. Montreal will try to avoid wrapping up a four-game homestand with three straight losses in tonight's battle with the New York Rangers at Bell Centre.

The Canadiens are 21-7-5 at home this season, have lost four of their last six overall and are currently tied with the Rangers for sixth overall in the Eastern Conference with 80 points.

They began their current residency with an overtime win versus Edmonton, but then dropped an overtime decision to the New York Islanders prior to Saturday's 3-1 loss to New Jersey. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur made 22 saves in front of his hometown crowd to tie long-time Habs netminder Patrick Roy atop the NHL's all-time win list with 551.

Tomas Plekanec scored the lone goal and Patrice Brisebois played in his 1,000th NHL game for a Montreal team that has also lost 11 of its last 18 games and is 1-1-1 since Bob Gainey took over for the fired Guy Carbonneau eight days ago.

Making his first start since February 28, Jaroslav Halak posted 45 saves in a loss that halted his personal four-game win streak. He had posted a 1.97 goals against average over that run.

The Habs should received a boost tonight if Alex Kovalev can return to the lineup. Kovalev, who has 47 points on the season, has missed the last two games due to flu-like symptoms.

The Rangers head north after splitting a home-and-home set with rival Philadelphia over the weekend. New York dropped a 4-2 road test on Saturday before responding with a 4-1 victory that following afternoon, the club's fifth win in its last seven games.

New York also improved to 4-2 since the return of Sean Avery to the lineup after being re-acquired off re-entry waivers from Dallas. Avery scored twice in Sunday's win, giving him a goal in three straight contests. Nik Antropov, acquired at the trade deadline from Toronto, scored in his second straight game to give him three tallies and two assists in six games with New York.

Fredrik Sjostrom had the Rangers' lone even-strength goal and Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves in the victory. Lundqvist is 7-4-1 with a 2.95 GAA lifetime versus Montreal, but has allowed 11 goals on 63 shots faced in losing both starts against the Canadiens this year.

Rangers head coach John Tortorella moved into a tie with Peter Laviolette for the most wins by an American-born NHL coach with 244.

New York has lost 11 of its last 13 on the road and is 15-16-4 overall as the guest this year. The Rangers have also lost in three of their last four trips to the Bell Centre and have dropped three in a row to the Habs overall, getting outscored 12-5 in the two losses this year.