SJS@MTL: Five things you need to know

MONTREAL - Here are five things you need to know ahead of Thursday night's matchup against the Sharks at the Bell Centre.

1.The Canadiens will be back in action for the first time since Sunday when they were edged 4-3 by the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center. Brendan Gallagher picked up his 300th career point in the loss on Phillip Danault's second goal of the game. The Habs' assistant captain also extended his point streak to three games. Meanwhile, Max Domi extended his point streak to six games with a helper on Tomas Tatar's power play goal. Domi leads the club with four power play points alongside Tatar and defenseman Jeff Petry.

2. For his part, Danault enjoyed an excellent game against the Wild. He scored his third and fourth goals of the season after just nine games. By comparison, the former first-round selection registered his fourth tally last year on December 22 (37 games) against the Golden Knights in Las Vegas when he collected the first hat trick of his career. The 26-year-old centerman is already on the right track to surpass his career-high 13 goals in a single season, which he set during the 2016-17 campaign with Montreal.

3. The Canadiens will try to snap an eight-game losing streak to the Sharks on Thursday night. Claude Julien's squad dropped both games to San Jose last season, falling 3-1 on December 3, 2018 at the Bell Centre, and 5-2 on March 7, 2019 at the SAP Center. The Habs' last win against the Sharks dates back to March 21, 2015 when they blanked them by a score of 2-0 in Montreal. Goaltender Carey Price made 29 saves to register the shutout. On Thursday morning, Julien confirmed that Tatar and fellow forward Joel Armia are both game-time decisions versus San Jose. Tatar left Wednesday's practice early after taking a puck to his foot, while Armia missed the last two games with a lower-body injury.
4. The Sharks are winless in their last two games, falling to the Sabres on both occasions. Their most recent outing on Tuesday night ended in a 4-3 shootout loss at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Through nine games, Peter DeBoer's squad has a 3-5-1 record. Forward Logan Couture (1G, 7A), and defensemen Brent Burns (2G, 6A) and Erik Karlsson (1G, 7A), all sit tied for the team lead in points with eight.
5. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. You can watch the game on TSN2 and RDS, and listen to all the action on TSN Radio 690 and 98,5 fm. If you're coming to the Bell Centre, the Thursday night DJ series presented by Monster Energy will feature DJ Illo. Meanwhile, Hall-of-Famer Yvan Cournoyer will also be at Tricolore Sports from 5:30-6:00 to sign autographs and promote his new T-shirt. To purchase tickets to the game,
click here
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