Red Wings at Canadiens preview

Mantha has missed Detroit's previous eight games because of a lower-body injury. The Red Wings went 1-7-0 without him. Andreas Athanasiou also is expected to play after missing two games with an undisclosed injury.

Detroit seeks consecutive victories for the first time since winning three in a row from Nov. 8 - 12. It ended a 12-game winless streak (0-10-2) with a 5-2 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. 

Carey Price, who has 334 NHL wins, is expected to start for Montreal, which has won three in a row. He needs one win to pass Cam Ward for sole possession of 23rd place on the NHL all-time list.

The Canadiens are 4-1-0 in their past five games following an eight-game winless streak (0-5-3).

Players to watch

Red Wings forward Filip Zadina had a goal and two assists for his first NHL multipoint game Thursday. He has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past five games.

Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher has seven points (four goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak. 

They said it

"Obviously you don't want to miss any games but it was hard seeing the team struggle and not be able to do anything, and I'm just excited to be back and try to help the team win." -- Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha

"They're a good skating team. They move the puck well, and they came in here at the beginning of the season and played a really solid game. … And if you believe in parity, which we do, there's no reason to take these guys lightly." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Red Wings projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Dylan Larkin -- Robby Fabbri

Anthony Mantha -- Valtteri Filppula -- Filip Zadina

Andreas Athanasiou -- Frans Nielsen -- Adam Erne

Darren Helm -- Justin Abdelkader -- Luke Glendening

Patrik Nemeth -- Mike Green

Trevor Daley -- Filip Hronek

Madison Bowey -- Alex Biega

Jonathan Bernier

Eric Comrie

Scratched: Brendan Perlini, Christoffer Ehn, Dylan McIlrath

Injured: Jonathan Ericsson (undisclosed), Danny DeKeyser (lower body), Jimmy Howard (lower body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen -- Max Domi -- Joel Armia

Nick Cousins -- Nick Suzuki -- Jordan Weal

Ryan Poehling -- Nate Thompson -- Riley Barber

Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber

Brett Kulak -- Jeff Petry

Otto Leskinen -- Cale Fleury

Carey Price

Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Mike Reilly, Christian Folin

Injured: Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Paul Byron (knee), Victor Mete (ankle), Matthew Peca (leg), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (concussion)

Status report

Kotkaniemi and Mete will be on the Canadiens' road trip, which starts agains the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, but Byron will not. … Lindgren was recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League. Rookie goalie Cayden Primeau was assigned to Laval.

Stat pack

Hronek has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games, including his first NHL three-point game Thursday. … Danault has six points (one goal, five assists) during a five-game point streak.