Canadiens at Panthers preview

CANADIENS (16-18-4) at PANTHERS (16-16-5)
7 p.m. ET; CBC, CITY, TVA Sports, FS-F, NHL.TV

A Panthers victory would match their longest winning streak since they won five straight from Feb. 11-20 last season. They have allowed six goals in their four consecutive triumphs.
The Canadiens aim to avoid their fourth straight loss; they're 3-5-1 in their past nine games after a five-game winning streak. They have been held to one goal in each of their past three defeats.

Players to watch

Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher scored his team-leading 15th goal in a 3-1 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
Panthers goaltender James Reimer has won four straight starts, with a 1.50 goals-against average and .957 save percentage.

They said it

"I know my production hasn't been there, so I have to find a way to get it and help the team win. They come in bunches, and I'm hoping to get one to jump-start it." -- Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty, who has one goal in his past 20 games
"There's some games that we lost this year that we played well for 40 minutes or 30 minutes of the game, but we're finding ways to get to that 60-minute effort and we're finding ways to win. Our penalty kill has been better, our special teams in general have been better, and goaltending. [Reimer] has been our best player for the last month, and that's translated to wins. -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner

Canadiens projected lineup

Alex Galchenyuk -- Jonathan Drouin -- Artturi Lehkonen
Max Pacioretty -- Phillip Danault -- Andrew Shaw
Paul Byron -- Tomas Plekanec -- Brendan Gallagher
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Byron Froese -- Daniel Carr
Jordie Benn -- Jakub Jerabek
Karl Alzner -- Jeff Petry
Joe Morrow -- Brett Lernout
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Jacob de la Rose, Charles Hudon
Injured: Ales Hemsky (upper body), Al Montoya (concussion), Shea Weber (foot), David Schlemko (virus)

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Evgenii Dadonov -- Vincent Trocheck -- Denis Malgin
Jamie McGinn -- Jared McCann -- Connor Brickley
Micheal Haley -- Derek MacKenzie -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Alexander Petrovic
James Reimer
Harri Sateri
Scratched: None
Injured:Roberto Luongo (lower body), Ian McCoshen (upper body), Radim Vrbata (illness)

Status report

The Canadiens did not hold a morning skate. … Schlemko, who has missed the past two games, practiced Friday. … Vrbata, who will miss his second consecutive game, did not practice Friday or take part in the optional morning skate Saturday.

Stat pack

Plekanec, with 367 assists for Montreal, needs one to tie Steve Shutt for 15th place in Canadiens history and two to tie Mats Naslund for 14th. … Florida is 9-0-0 when leading after two periods. … Montreal has won the past four meetings, starting with a 3-2 overtime victory on Dec. 29, 2016.