Canadiens at Stars preview
Montreal seeks fourth consecutive victory; Dallas aims to win sixth game in seven
by Josh Clark / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
CANADIENS (7-4-2) at STARS (6-8-1)
7 p.m. ET; CITY, SNE, TVAS, FS-SW, NHL.TV
The Game
The Montreal Canadiens will look to win a season-high fourth straight game when they visit the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
The Canadiens have outscored opponents 14-7 in their three consecutive victories.
Goalie Carey Price is expected to start; he's 4-1-0 with a 1.82 goals-against average, .935 save percentage and one shutout in his past five starts.
Goalie Ben Bishop will start for the Stars, who seek their third straight win and sixth in seven games (5-1-0) following a 1-7-1 start to the season. Bishop is 2-1-0 with a 1.82 goals-against average and .943 save percentage in his past four games.
Dallas is 3-0-2 in its past five home games against Montreal.
Players to watch
Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin has four goals in a three-game goal streak.
Stars forward Roope Hintz has three goals in the past two games and leads Dallas with nine goals this season.
They said it
"It's important that we get a good start. It's important that we get our legs under us and get a good jump not just for the start, but throughout the whole game. This is team that is playing much better as of late and they've won their last two games. It's important for us to have a good start and understand that we have a chance here to come home with three wins. That would be a huge boost for us." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien on trying to sweep a three-game road trip
"I think the speed and pure power of his speed is really what opens everyone's eyes. But he's got a great release, it's a heavy shot, and he's a heavy body that wins a lot of battles for us." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery on forward Roope Hintz
Canadiens projected lineup
Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin -- Max Domi -- Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen -- Nick Suzuki -- Paul Byron
Nick Cousins -- Nate Thompson -- Jordan Weal
Victor Mete -- Shea Weber
Ben Chiarot -- Jeff Petry
Mike Reilly -- Cale Fleury
Carey Price
Keith Kinkaid
Scratched: Brett Kulak, Christian Folin
Injured: Jesperi Kotkaniemi (groin)
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Denis Gurianov -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Mattias Janmark -- Jason Dickinson -- Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen
Joel Hanley -- Taylor Fedun
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Justin Dowling
Injured: Andrej Sekera (upper body), Roman Polak (upper body), Stephen Johns (post traumatic headaches), Martin Hanzal (back)
Status report
Comeau was activated off injured reserve after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury. Forward Nick Caamano was assigned to Texas of the American Hockey League.
Stat pack
Armia has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past five games. … Tatar has four points (one goal, three assists) in a three-game point streak. … Gallagher has scored a goal in three straight games. … Perry has 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 15 games against the Canadiens. … Dallas is 8-2-3 in its past 13 home games against Montreal.