After losing five of their final six games to close out the college football betting month of December, the Montreal Canadiens have began to turn things around in 2011, thanks in major part to a New Years resolution carried out by general manager Pierre Gauthier. The Habs have won three of their last four following the acquisition of defenseman James Wisniewski from the New York Islanders. The 26-year old rearguard has registered two goals and four assists over that span, as Montreal has clinched a point in each of its last four games. Wisniewski was acquired to help fill a gap created by injuries to Andrei Markov and Josh Gorges, and his presence on the blue line both five-on-five and with the man-advantage has helped sparked the Canadiens’ recent hot streak.
The Canadiens rank eighth in the Eastern conference with 49 points, but are just two back of the Boston Bruins for first place in the Northeast division. Montreal will travel to match pay per head hot streaks with a New York Rangers team that has won three in a row on Tuesday night, where Wisniewski will be in the spotlight for a very different reason. It will be the former Islanders first game against Sean Avery and the Rangers since his infamous gesture towards the feisty forward earned him a suspension. Wisniewski has already apologized for his actions and acknowledged that they were innappropriate and that he regretted them.
Like his new teammates, Wisniewski isn’t worried about the past, focusing his attention on his future with the Canadiens instead. That will be important as Montreal enters a stretch of three games in five nights, each against teams currently ahead of the Canadiens in the Eastern conference NHL standings playoff race, including a pair of games against the Rangers. Perhaps trying to mirror Montreal’s success, New York made a move of its own to boost its forward corps. After learning that underachieving forward Alex Frolov would miss the rest of the season with a torn right ACL, the Rangers made a move to acquire another under performing scorer in Wojtek Wolski.
The Canadiens themselves will need a couple of scorers to step up after learning that winger Mike Cammalleri will not be available for the team’s game against the Rangers after staying back due to an illness. Cammalleri left Montreal’s game overtime win against the Boston Bruins on Saturday due to an undisclosed sickness. Captain Brian Gionta has stepped up his play with a team-leading 15 goals, including three in his past four games. Rookie Max Pacioretty has provided a big boost for Gionta and Scott Gomez, with three points in his last three games, including the overtime winner against the Bruins. Whoever emerges, a big part of the focus will remain on Wisniewski, who has registered three assists in four online sports betting games against the Rangers.
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