Hamonic, who was injured during the first period of a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, was placed on injured reserve Friday. The Flames have won two in a row following a three-game losing streak (0-2-1). Goaltender Carey Price will start his 12th consecutive game for the Canadiens, who are 2-1-0 in the past three games after a three-game losing streak. Forward Artturi Lehkonen might return after missing 16 games because of a lower-body injury.
Players to watch
Montreal forward Alex Galchenyuk has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past eight games. Calgary goaltender Mike Smith is 2-2-2 with 10 goals-against in his past six games, and has held opponents to two or fewer goals in five of his past six starts.
They said it
"We have been kind of on the upward trend in the last couple weeks where there are very good things coming from our games. There's a couple hiccups along the way but I think everyone is starting to understand the game plan and abiding by it." -- Canadiens defenseman Joe Morrow "We want to come out hard tonight. We have four or five days off here coming up. We'll come out hard, lay it all out there. We have some time to relax a little bit and spend some time with family. It's a big game for us. We know how important it is for us." -- Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau
The Canadiens and Flames each held an optional morning skate. … Bartkowski will replace Hamonic after being a healthy scratch for 12 straight games and 19 of the past 20.
Stat pack
Carr has nine points (three goals, six assists) in eight games since being recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League. Danault has five points (three goals, two assists) in the past five games. … Gaudreau has six points (two goals, four assists) in the past 13 games after he had 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists) in his previous 21 games.
