Flames at Canadiens preview

FLAMES (25-17-5) at CANADIENS (19-20-7)
7 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, SNW, NHL.TV

David Rittich will make his first start in four games for Calgary, which lost six of its previous eight games (2-5-1) prior to its winning streak.
Carey Price will start for Montreal, which ended an eight-game winless (0-7-1) streak with a 2-1 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

Players to watch

Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past six games.
Canadiens forward Ilya Kovalchuk has four points (one goal, three assists) in four games since signing with Montreal on Jan. 3.

They said it

"I think if we can get through the first 10 minutes real clean, and certainly through the first period, then I think we have an opportunity to settle into our game. So for us, we're going to talk an awful lot about the start and see where the game goes from there." -- Flames coach Geoff Ward
"They're a very good hockey team. A lot of depth, a lot of scoring up front, good defense and good goaltending as well. We had a good match against them earlier (4-3 overtime win on Dec. 19), and I know they've been hot lately, so it's going to be a good test for us." -- Canadiens forward Max Domi

Flames projected lineup

Matthew Tkachuk -- Elias Lindholm -- Andrew Mangiapane
Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Mikael Backlund
Milan Lucic -- Derek Ryan -- Dillon Dube
Zac Rinaldo -- Tobias Rieder -- Sam Bennett
Mark Giordano -- TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington -- Rasmus Andersson
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
Scratched:Mark Jankowski, Michael Stone, Alexander Yelesin
Injured:None

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Ilya Kovalchuk
Artturi Lehkonen -- Max Domi -- Nick Suzuki
Ryan Poehling -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Nick Cousins
Jordan Weal -- Nate Thompson -- Dale Weise
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Marco Scandella -- Jeff Petry
Victor Mete -- Cale Fleury
Carey Price
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched:Brett Kulak, Matthew Peca
Injured: Brendan Gallagher (upper body), Paul Byron (upper body), Joel Armia (hand), Jonathan Drouin (wrist)

Status report

Gallagher will miss his second straight game since the forward played Thursday after missing the previous four games because of a concussion. "He's resting right now so nothing's been determined and no update there," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. … Chiarot will return after missing the past two games because of a lower-body injury.

Stat pack

Talbot was named NHL Third Star of the Week after going 3-0-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average and .953 save percentage in three consecutive starts. … Monahan needs one point for 400 in the NHL. … Cousins will play his 300th NHL game. … Tatar has four assists in his past four games.