Flames at Canadiens preview

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.