Canadiens at Blue Jackets preview

CANADIENS (25-31-12) at BLUE JACKETS (36-28-5)
7 p.m. ET; FS-O, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV

Columbus holds the second wild card with 77 points, one point behind the New Jersey Devils, and two points ahead of the Florida Panthers. The Blue Jackets trail the Philadelphia Flyers by four points for the third place in Metropolitan Division.
The Blue Jackets complete a four-game homestand looking to extend their winning at Nationwide Arena to six games.,
Montreal will try to end a four-game losing streak (0-2-2). The Canadiens are 3-6-6 in their past 15 games. They are 15 points behind the Blue Jackets for the second wild card from the East.

Players to watch

Canadiens forward Charles Hudon had two assists in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday after missing four games with a hand injury.
Seth Jones has five points (three goals, two assists) in five games. He has game-winners in consecutive games.

They said it

"Our roster isn't strong enough right now but it's good enough to compete." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien on Montreal's injuries
"We're trying to relax the team the best we can. Some guys have been involved in it, some guys haven't." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella on contending for the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Canadiens projected lineup

Paul Byron -- Jonathan Drouin -- Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk -- Jacob de la Rose -- Charles Hudon
Artturi Lehkonen -- Nikita Scherbak -- Andrew Shaw
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Byron Froese -- Daniel Carr
Mike Reilly -- Jeff Petry
Karl Alzner -- Noah Juulsen
Jordie Benn -- Brett Lernout
Charlie Lindgren
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Logan Shaw
Injured: Carey Price (concussion), Ales Hemsky (concussion), Max Pacioretty (lower body), Victor Mete (hand), David Schlemko (upper body), Rinat Valiev (undisclosed), Phillip Danault (neck)

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Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson
Sonny Milano -- Nick Foligno -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Matt Calvert -- Brandon Dubinsky -- Mark Letestu
Thomas Vanek -- Alex Wennberg -- Boone Jenner
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Ryan Murray -- Jack Johnson
Ian Cole -- David Savard
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched: Taylor Chorney, Scott Harrington, Markus Hannikainen, Lukas Sedlak, Markus Nutivaara
Injured:Dean Kukan (upper body), Josh Anderson (knee)

Status report

Scherbak will replace Danault, who played Saturday after missing one game with a sore neck. … Nutivaara came off injured reserve on Sunday after missing 11 games with an upper body injury sustained on Feb. 16. The Blue Jackets have nine defensemen on their active roster.

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Stat pack

Gallagher has five points (three goals, two assists) in the past six games. … Panarin has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak.