Canadiens at Bruins preview

CANADIENS (27-24-7) at BRUINS (34-11-12)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, SN360, RDS

The Bruins, who will try to stretch their home winning streak to six games, lead the Tampa Bay Lightning by one point in the Atlantic. Boston is 6-1-0 in its past seven games and 10-3-1 in its past 14.
The Canadiens, 9-4-0 in their past 13 games following an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1), will attempt to win their fifth consecutive road game.
Montreal is eight points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Canadiens center Nick Suzuki has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past eight games.
Bruins forward David Pastrnak has 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in 18 games against Montreal.

They said it

"A lot of it comes back to winning battles, and the grinding stuff that you still have to do on a power play just hasn't been there. Once we have full control and we seem to be better, get some chances, but we're one and done, we're not jumping on those loose pucks. Even in the battles along the walls, we're losing a lot of those." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien on the Montreal power play, which is 3-for-33 (9.1 percent) in its past 12 games
"Yeah, it's fun to be a part of it and play. And always it's not hard to get up for these games. And it's another big game for us too. First and foremost, it's two points on the line, we've got to grab those and bounce back here from the last game." -- Bruins center Charlie Coyle on the Boston-Montreal rivalry

Canadiens projected lineup

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

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Karson Kuhlman
Anders Bjork -- Charlie Coyle -- Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom -- Sean Kuraly -- Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk -- John Moore
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
Scratched: Par Lindholm, Anton Blidh
Injured: Connor Clifton (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee)

Status report

Danault will play after leaving the Canadiens' 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Monday after taking a puck to the face. … Byron is cleared to practice; the forward hasn't played since Nov. 15. … Nordstrom returns after missing four games with a medical condition and replaces Lindholm.

Stat pack

Kovalchuk has 42 points (23 goals, 19 assists) in 43 games against Boston. … Chara will play his 1,541st NHL game, passing Shane Doan and Johnny Bucyk for 16th all-time.