The next game for the Canadiens and Rangers on the NHL playoffs schedule is Monday night and coming in, both teams could be down big players, as Montreal may bench Carey Price in net, while New York may not have forward Derek Brassard after he suffered an injury in Game 1 and his status is up in the air for the second matchup.
The Rangers hit the Canadiens for seven goals in the first game and Price was pulled in the matchup for Peter Budaj and he could get the start in Game 2. Price was pulled after the second period, which had a crash between the goalie and Rangers forward Chris Kreider and while it appeared Price may have been injured, coach Michel Therrien said he was not benched because of an injury. Price had a rough game and his backup didn't fare much better, as the Rangers added another two goals and now both Price and Brassard could be out for the next game.
Brandon Prust and other Canadiens players admitted they felt there was no intent on Kreider's part to hurt Price, but they did say he may not have pulled up as much as he should have and said that maybe he did it "accidentally on purpose". Either way, the Rangers broke out for seven goals in the game after Martin St. Louis started the scoring and now the New York side has the 1-0 lead in the east finals. Kreider clearly was hit on the leg as he went down into Price and he tried his best to put the breaks on soon after making his move and now things will move on into Game 2.
Brassard was injured in the first period of Game 1 and that came after an open ice hit from Mike Waver from the Canadiens and while he said the back injury was not serious, the Rangers may hold him out of the next game. Losing Brassard did not hurt the Rangers on offense and now they will try and go for the 2-0 lead in the series with the next game.
