Rangers to start G Georgiev at Montreal in NHL debut

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Alexandar Georgiev is set to make his NHL debut for the New York Rangers when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

The 22-year-old Russian was 12-11-2 with a 2.97 goals-against average and .908 save-percentage in 31 games with Hartford of the AHL before being called up by the Rangers on Feb. 10.

"Everything I hear about that young man is positive," coach Alain Vigneault said Wednesday at the team's practice facility in suburban New York. "I hope our team in front of him is going to play real hard. We got to come out with energy."

Starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist has appeared in 27 of the Rangers' last 30 games — twice when he came off the bench to replace backup Ondrej Pavelec, who is currently injured. The Rangers have lost 11 of their last 14, and Lundqvist has given up 18 goals on 128 shots during their current four-game skid. That includes a 7-4 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday.

"That first period we came out with energy, we were ready to play,"Vigneault said. "Obviously toward the end there wasn't much left in the tank. We've had a full week to regroup here and I want us to play a good game in front of a guy that's going to play his first game in goal for us."


Source : Yahoo News