Sabres at Canadiens preview

SABRES (31-33-9) at CANADIENS (39-28-7)
7 p.m. ET; CITY, SNE, TVAS, MSG-B, NHL.TV

Montreal will look for a third straight win after going 1-4-0 in their previous five games.
The Canadiens hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East with 85 points, one more than the Columbus Blue Jackets. They are two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes, who hold the first wild card and have one game in hand.
Buffalo has one win in its past nine games (1-7-1). The Sabres are 14 points behind Montreal for the second wild card from the East.

Players to watch

Sabres forward Jack Eichel needs two goals for 100 in the NHL. Montreal is the only team in the League he has yet to score against.
Canadiens goalie Carey Price made 28 saves for his fourth shutout in a 4-0 win against the New York Islanders on Thursday. He is 3-2-0 with a 1.21 goals-against-average and .958 save percentage in his past five starts.

They said it

"We've had pretty good success against this team this season, albeit a couple of them went into overtime, but I like our game in those games that we played. We were a smart team, we managed the puck well, we tried to take away their speed because they have an excellent transition game. So that's going to be important tonight." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley
"We've had some problems with them before. We just have to start from the first minute and we have to play the same as the last two games." -- Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar

Sabres projected lineup

Conor Sheary -- Jack Eichel -- Alex Nylander
Jeff Skinner -- Evan Rodrigues -- Jason Pominville
Vladimir Sobotka -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Sam Reinhart
Zemgus Girgensons -- Johan Larsson -- Kyle Okposo
Zach Bogosian -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin -- Brandon Montour
Marco Scandella -- Casey Nelson
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
Scratched: Scott Wilson, Tage Thompson
Injured:Matt Hunwick (upper body), Jake McCabe (upper body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen -- Max Domi -- Andrew Shaw
Jonathan Drouin -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Joel Armia
Paul Byron -- Nate Thompson -- Jordan Weal
Victor Mete -- Shea Weber
Brett Kulak -- Jeff Petry
Jordie Benn -- Christian Folin
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Nicolas Deslauriers, Charles Hudon, Matthew Peca, Dale Weise, Mike Reilly, Charlie Lindgren
Injured:None

Status report

Hunwick is day-to-day. … Canadiens coach Claude Julien will use the same lineup for a sixth straight game.

Stat pack

Dahlin and Bogosian each has two assists in the past two games. … Tatar will play his 500th NHL game. He has 279 points (141 goals, 138 assists) in 499 games with the Detroit Red Wings, Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal. … Domi needs one point for 200 in the League.