Blues at Canadiens preview

BLUES (17-8-2) at CANADIENS (13-12-3)
7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, FS-MW, NHL.TV

Montreal scored a season-high 10 goals in a 10-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. The Canadiens' five-game winning streak is tied for the longest active streak in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars.
Goaltender Carey Price will look to win his sixth straight start; he has allowed six goals throughout Montreal's winning streak after returning from a lower-body injury.
The Blues aim to avoid their fourth consecutive defeat; they have lost three straight games (0-2-1) for the first time this season after going 4-1-0 in their previous five. St. Louis had lost consecutive games twice (Oct. 12-14, and Nov. 11-13) prior to their losing streak.

Players to watch

Blues forward Brayden Schenn, who was named the NHL's Third Star for November, has no points in five games since he had 19 (seven goals, 12 assists) during an eight-game point streak.
Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk had his first NHL four-point game (four assists) Saturday and has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past five games.

They said it

"We're pretty familiar with how good of a goaltender [Price] is so we'll have our hands full. But the more traffic we get in front of him, the more difficult we make it, it'll work." -- Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo
"When you compare our team at the beginning of the year, we had a lot of guys struggling, and they're finding their stride." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Blues projected lineup

Vladimir Sobotka -- Paul Stastny -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Alexander Steen
Magnus Paajarvi -- Patrik Berglund -- Sammy Blais
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Dmitrij Jaskin
Jay Bouwmeester -- Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson -- Colton Parayko
Carl Gunnarsson -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton
Scratched:Vince Dunn, Oskar Sundqvist, Chris Thorburn
Injured: Zach Sanford (shoulder)

Canadiens projected lineup

Max Pacioretty -- Phillip Danault -- Andrew Shaw
Charles Hudon -- Tomas Plekanec -- Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk -- Jacob de la Rose -- Paul Byron
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Byron Froese -- Daniel Carr
Jordie Benn -- Shea Weber
Karl Alzner -- Jeff Petry
Victor Mete -- David Schlemko
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Jakub Jerabek, Joe Morrow
Injured: Jonathan Drouin (lower body), Al Montoya (concussion), Artturi Lehkonen (lower body), Nikita Scherbak (knee), Ales Hemsky (concussion-like symptoms)

Status report

Blues coach Mike Yeo said he had no lineup changes. ... The Canadiens did not hold a morning skate. ... Drouin, who has missed the past two games, skated earlier Monday but did not take part in practice.

Stat pack

The Blues have had 40 or more shots in four of their past six games. They had 36 and 39 shots in the other two. ... Schwartz has no points in his past three games after having 11 (four goals, seven assists) in his previous seven. … Gallagher has four points (three goals, assist) in his past two games.