Canadiens at Flames preview

CANADIENS (16-12-6) at FLAMES (18-14-4)
9 p.m. ET; SNW, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV

Montreal is 4-1-0 in its past five after one win in its previous 10 (1-6-3).
Goalie Carey Price will start for the Canadiens. He's 4-1-0 with a 1.41 goals-against average and .952 save percentage in his past five starts.
David Rittich will start for the Flames, who have lost two in a row after a season-long seven-game winning streak. Rittich, who is second in the NHL in shots against (856) and third in saves (782), is 15-8-4 with a 2.73 GAA and .914 save percentage.

Players to watch

Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak.
Flames forward Sean Monahan has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past 10 games and leads Calgary with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists).

They said it

"Even before we started getting results, we had some idea that we were starting to play the right way again, we were able to build a little bit of confidence. But you really don't start to buy in until you win some hockey games. We were able to win, something to build on there, and then since then what we just went through, we don't want to fall back in that trap." -- Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher
"We've got to treat this as a must-win. We don't want to obviously lose three in a row. That's not us. Tonight's one where everyone has to step up and play a role." -- Flames forward Sean Monahan

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
Mike Reilly -- Cale Fleury
Carey Price
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Christian Folin, Lukas Vejdemo
Injured:Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Paul Byron (knee), Victor Mete (ankle), Matthew Peca (leg), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (concussion)

Flames projected lineup

Matthew Tkachuk -- Elias Lindholm -- Andrew Mangiapane
Dillon Dube -- Sean Monahan -- Mikael Backlund
Milan Lucic -- Derek Ryan -- Johnny Gaudreau
Sam Bennett -- Tobias Rieder -- Michael Frolik
Mark Giordano -- TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington -- Rasmus Andersson
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
Scratched:Zac Rinaldo, Mark Jankowski, Michael Stone
Injured:None

Status report

Each team held an optional morning skate. …The Flames assigned forward Austin Czarnik to Stockton of the American Hockey League and recalled Rinaldo on Thursday.

Stat pack

Price needs one shutout to tie Ken Dryden (46) for third in Canadiens history. …Tatar has six points (four goals, two assists) in a five-game point streak and has scored a goal in four consecutive games. … Gaudreau has scored five goals in his past seven games after a 10-game drought. ... Hanifin is two assists from 200 in the NHL.