NSH@MTL: Five things you need to know

MONTREAL - Here are five things you need to know ahead of Tuesday night's game against the Nashville Predators at the Bell Centre.

1. The Canadiens have returned home following a three-game road trip. On their first game of the voyage, the Habs exploded for six goals en route to a 6-2 win over the New York Islanders in Brooklyn. In the remaining two games on the road, however, they couldn't repeat their success and scored just one goal in total against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers. Rookie Jake Evans scored Montreal's lone goal in their most recent outing, a 4-1 decision in Florida's favor on Saturday. Charlie Lindgren made 28 saves in the loss in his sixth start of the campaign for the Habs.

2. At Tuesday's morning skate, head coach Claude Julien went with the same re-jigged lines he had used at practice at the Bell Centre on Monday. Those combinations saw Phillip Danault centering a line between Paul Byron and Joel Armia, and Max Domi acting as pivot between Charles Hudon and Brendan Gallagher. Julien told reporters after the skate that neither Jonathan Drouin nor Tomas Tatar would be ready to return against the Preds, even though Drouin did take part in the morning skate.

3.This will be the first home game since the passing of Canadiens legend Henri Richard. The Habs will pay tribute to the "Pocket Rocket" prior to puck drop.

With the Predators in town, Tuesday night is also Country Night presented by LASSO Montreal at the Bell Centre. The themed night is in anticipation of Montreal's brand new country music festival, LASSO Montreal, which makes its debut on August 14-15 at Parc Jean-Drapeau. There will be lots of country-themed offerings for fans in attendance, including a country band in the concourse, contests to win passes to LASSO Montreal, and a pop-up chicken wings restaurant at M2 Marche Montreal.

4. For their part, the Predators are fighting for their playoff lives. They have 76 points so far this season, which has them just on the outside of the final Wild Card position. They've won their past two games, a home-and-home series with the Dallas Stars, with Juuse Saros riding a shutout streak spanning 138:22. Ryan Ellis scored his team's only goal in Saturday's 1-0 win in Dallas. Roman Josi leads the Preds with 63 points (16G, 47A) this season, with Filip Forsberg (45P) and Matt Duchene (42P) rounding out the top-3.
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. For tickets to the game,
click here
.