MTL@NYI: Five things you need to know

UNIONDALE - Here are five things you need to know ahead of Thursday night's game against the Islanders at NYCB LIVE/Nassau Coliseum.

1. The Canadiens are coming off an historic win on Tuesday night. They beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 at the Bell Centre, earning Carey Price the 315th victory of his career to vault him into first place on the franchise's all-time wins list among goaltenders. The 31-year-old backstop becomes the ninth active NHL goaltender to sit atop his current franchise's all-time regular-season wins list and the third to do so with an Original Six team. Max Domi tallied twice, while Brett Kulak notched the game-winner with his fourth of the season to help the Habs sweep the season series with the Wings.

2. Brendan Gallagher earned an assist on Kulak's deciding goal. It was the 25-year-old's sixth point in his last seven games. Gallagher is now just eight points away from matching the career-high 54 points he scored last season. He and Tomas Tatar are the Habs' career leading scorers against the Islanders with 13 points each (6G, 7A for Gallagher, 4G, 9A for Tatar). In the Habs' first and only other meeting with the Islanders this season, they came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat New York 4-3 in a shootout on November 5 in Brooklyn. At Thursday's morning skate, head coach Claude Julien had Jordan Weal on a line with Jonathan Drouin and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and matched up Nate Thompson with Joel Armia and Artturi Lehkonen. But the Habs bench boss said he might have to make some game-time decisions on his lineup because some players "still aren't 100%".

3. The Canadiens are currently tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets with 81 points, though it's the Blue Jackets who hold down the final Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference with tie-breaking procedures in place. The Jackets and the Carolina Hurricanes - who own the other Wild Card spot - are both idle on Thursday night, but they face each other in Ohio on Friday. The Hurricanes go into that game with 83 points in 69 games.
4. Thursday's contest takes place at NYCB LIVE/Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders' former full-time home in Uniondale. They are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and now sit in second place in the Metropolitan division with 87 points. The Islanders are just two points back from the Washington Capitals, but the Pittsburgh Penguins are right on their tails with 85 - though New York holds a game in hand. In their last outing, the Isles blanked the Blue Jackets 2-0 at Nassau on Monday. Ryan Pulock and Anders Lee lit the lamp for New York, while Thomas Greiss made 31 saves for his fifth shutout of the season. Josh Bailey is the Islanders' leading scorer against Montreal, with 17 points (5G, 12A) in 33 career games.
5. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. You can catch all the action on TSN2 and RDS on television, and on TSN 690 and 98,5 fm on the radio. The Habs fly back to Montreal immediately following the game, and play the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday at the Bell Centre.