Stars at Canadiens preview

STARS (33-19-5) at CANADIENS (27-26-7)
7 p.m. ET; CITY, SNE, TVAS, FS-SW, NHL.TV

The forward missed the past two games because of an undisclosed injury. Goalie Ben Bishop will start for the Stars, who have won three straight and are 5-1-1 in the past seven games.
Dallas is third in the Central Division, one point behind the second-place Colorado Avalanche, and three behind the St. Louis Blues for first.
Montreal is fifth in the Atlantic Division, seven points behind the third-place Toronto Maple Leafs, and 10 points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Canadiens have lost three in a row, including 4-1 at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, after going 9-3-0 in their previous 12 games.

Players to Watch

Stars forward Jamie Benn has four goals in his past three games and needs one for 300 in the NHL.
Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"I think this group has some great character in this room, and guys like to compete, like to work hard. And we're ready to find a way to win, whether we go down a goal or if we've got the lead, we're not changing a lot. So, we've been a patient team that just competes and works hard and is solid in all three zones." -- Stars forward Joe Pavelski
"At the end of the day, it's pretty simple: We're going to have to get on a really good winning streak if we plan on getting back into this hunt." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Stars projected lineup

Roope Hintz -- Tyler Seguin -- Corey Perry
Jamie Benn -- Jason Dickinson -- Denis Gurianov
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark -- Joe Pavelski -- Jason Robertson
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen -- Stephen Johns
Jamie Oleksiak -- Andrej Sekera
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Roman Polak, Joel Kiviranta, Taylor Fedun
Injured: Martin Hanzal (back), Alexander Radulov (upper body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Ilya Kovalchuk -- Nick Suzuki -- Joel Armia
Nick Cousins -- Max Domi -- Jonathan Drouin
Artturi Lehkonen -- Nate Thompson -- Jake Evans
Brett Kulak -- Jeff Petry
Ben Chiarot -- Victor Mete
Marco Scandella -- Xavier Ouellet
Carey Price
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Christian Folin, Jordan Weal, Dale Weise
Injured: Shea Weber (lower body), Paul Byron (knee)

Status report

Kiviranta will dress at forward if Pavelski is unable to play, Stars coach Rick Bowness said. … The Canadiens did not hold a morning skate.

Stat pack

Gurianov has scored in consecutive games and has six goals in the past nine. … Drouin has no points in four games since missing the previous 37 games recovering from wrist surgery.