Avalanche at Canadiens preview

AVALANCHE (20-16-8) at CANADIENS (23-17-5)
7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, ALT, NHL.TV

The Avalanche, 1-6-2 in their past nine games, have lost the first two games of its five-game Canadian road trip and have allowed at least five goals in three of their past four games.
The Canadiens, 1-3-0 in their past four games after going 5-1-0 in their previous six games, have made changes to each of the top three lines and each power-play unit; Montreal ranks 31st in the NHL on the man advantage at 12.8 percent and is 1-for-17 (5.9 percent) in its past six games.

Players to watch

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in an eight-game point streak and 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists) in his past 25 games.
Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher has scored in consecutive games and leads Montreal with 17 goals.

They said it

"We've been doing a good job on the other team's shot count, but we just give up those big chances, breakaways, 2-on-1s, point-blank shots at our net from guys, one-timers. And just trying not to give up those big chances and we'll be fine." -- Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon
"Right now, there's no reason not to try things when your power play is sitting at 31st in the League." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost -- Alex Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
Sven Andrighetto -- Sheldon Dries -- Colin Wilson
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Ryan Graves -- Mark Barberio
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: Gabriel Bourque
Injured: Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Nikita Zadorov (lower body), Patrik Nemeth (illness)

Canadiens projected lineup

Jonathan Drouin -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen -- Max Domi -- Joel Armia
Tomas Tatar -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Paul Byron
Kenny Agostino -- Michael Chaput -- Nicolas Deslauriers
Victor Mete -- Shea Weber
Mike Reilly -- Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak -- Jordie Benn
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Charles Hudon, Matthew Peca, Karl Alzner
Injured: Andrew Shaw (neck), David Schlemko (upper body)

Status report

Barberio returns after missing 19 games because of an upper-body injury. Wilson missed the past eight games because of a shoulder injury. … Tatar had played with Danault and Gallagher since the beginning of training camp. … Agostino, Armia and Byron join Weber and Drouin on Montreal's first power-play unit. Petry, Domi, Kotkaniemi, Tatar and Gallagher form the second power play.

Stat pack

Landeskog has multiple points in three straight games (six points; three goals, three assists) and 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists) in his past 18 games. … Rantanen has six points (three goals, three assists) in a three-game point streak and 39 points (13 goals, 26 assists) in his past 25 games. … Tatar has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.