Oilers at Canadiens preview

OILERS (11-15-2) at CANADIENS (13-13-4)
7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV

Goaltender Carey Price will make his eighth straight start for Montreal, which has lost consecutive games (0-1-1) following a five-game winning streak.
Edmonton is 1-2-0 in its past three games after winning three of its previous four (3-1-0).

Players to watch

Oilers forward Connor McDavid has three points (one goal, two assists) during a three-game point streak, and 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in his past 11 games.
Drouin had four points (two goals, two assists) in three games before he was sidelined by injury and illness.

They said it

"We haven't been able to string anything together to consistently feel good about ourselves. So tonight we're looking to getting back on the positive side and we'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan
"I feel good. It was tough on the body for a few days. The virus was tougher than the injury." -- Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin

Oilers projected lineup

Milan Lucic -- Connor McDavid -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Pat Maroon -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Michael Cammalleri
Nathan Walker -- Leon Draisaitl -- Anton Slepyshev
Jujhar Khaira -- Mark Letestu -- Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse -- Kris Russell
Oscar Klefbom -- Matt Benning
Yohann Auvitu -- Brandon Davidson
Laurent Brossoit
Nick Ellis
Scratched:Eric Gryba, Ryan Strome, Drake Caggiula
Injured: Andrej Sekera (knee), Cam Talbot (undisclosed), Adam Larsson (upper body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Alex Galchenyuk -- Jonathan Drouin -- Andrew Shaw
Max Pacioretty -- Phillip Danault -- Paul Byron
Charles Hudon -- Tomas Plekanec -- Brendan Gallagher
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Byron Froese -- Daniel Carr
Jordie Benn -- Shea Weber
Karl Alzner -- Jeff Petry
Victor Mete -- David Schlemko
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched:Jakub Jerabek, Joe Morrow, Jacob de la Rose
Injured:Al Montoya (concussion), Artturi Lehkonen (lower body), Nikita Scherbak (knee), Ales Hemsky (concussion-like symptoms)

Status report

Walker is expected to play his first game for the Oilers since they claimed him on waivers from the Washington Capitals on Dec. 1. Davidson likely will play his first game for the Oilers this season. He had been claimed on waivers from the Canadiens on Dec. 3. He had played his first three NHL seasons with the Oilers before being traded to the Canadiens on Feb. 28 for forward David Desharnais. ... Talbot skated on his own Saturday. "We're going to take our time with him," McLellan said. "I think he's getting closer though." ... The Canadiens did not have a morning skate.

Stat pack

Letestu has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past four games. ... Galchenyuk has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games.