The Canadiens are coming off a loss in their last outing on Monday night at the Bell Centre against the Washington Capitals, but had won their three previous games on the road to begin the 2017 calendar year.
Michel Therrien will make just one change to his lineup, calling on Al Montoya to start against his former team. Montoya, who played for the Jets from 2012 to 2014, beat the Dallas Stars 4-3 in overtime in his most recent outing last Wednesday.
Prior to making the trip to Manitoba, the Canadiens confirmed that Alex Galchenyuk (knee), David Desharnais (knee), Brendan Gallagher (hand), Andrei Markov (lower-body), Greg Pateryn (foot) and Andrew Shaw (concussion) would not be on the charter flight.
For their part, the Jets are coming off a 2-0 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck registered his third shutout of the season. Hellebuyck will be between the pipes against the Canadiens.
The Canadiens will be looking to up their lead atop the Atlantic Division. They currently sit nine points ahead of the Boston Bruins. Therrien's contingent, meanwhile, is just four points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets for top spot in the NHL.
The Jets rank 11th in the Western Conference, 16 points back of the Chicago Blackhawks.
They'll be without their top player on Wednesday night, though, as young gun Patrik Laine suffered a concussion last Saturday night. Before being sidelined, the 18-year-old Finnish sensation had collected 37 points - including 21 goals - in 42 games during his rookie campaign.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, as well as on TSN Radio 690 and 98,5 fm.
