Canadiens at Flyers preview

CANADIENS (8-5-2) at FLYERS (7-5-2)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV

The Flyers are 2-0-1 in their past three games, including a 4-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. Carter Hart will start in goal after he made 33 saves against the Hurricanes.
Goalie Carey Price is expected to start for the Canadiens, who go for their fifth win in six games; Montreal is 4-1-0 in its past five.

Players to watch

Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past five games and is one point from 300 in the NHL.
Flyers forward Sean Couturier has five points (two goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"There's a centerman there (Ryan Poehling) that played his second NHL game and he just works hard. He's a gritty player and he makes plays and you can see him battling well and seemed that that made a great combination there the last game. But it's a one-game sample and we get to see it again tonight so we'll see how they handle that." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien on keeping together the line of Poehling, Artturi Lehkonen and Paul Byron
"Our last game, the fourth line in the first two periods spent a lot time in our zone. And we're in a sequence right now where we're playing four games in six nights so I need to be able to play four lines. By putting him there I feel I've got some good balance on each of the lines and I'm sure he'll do a good job there tonight." -- Flyers coach Alain Vigneault on shifting forward Michael Raffl from the third line to the fourth line

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Joel Armia -- Max Domi -- Jonathan Drouin
Artturi Lehkonen -- Ryan Poehling -- Paul Byron
Nick Cousins -- Nate Thompson -- Nick Suzuki
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Victor Mete -- Jeff Petry
Mike Reilly -- Cale Fleury
Carey Price
Keith Kinkaid
Scratched:Jordan Weal, Brett Kulak, Christian Folin
Injured:Jesperi Kotkaniemi (groin)

Flyers projected lineup

James van Riemsdyk -- Claude Giroux -- Joel Farabee
Oskar Lindblom -- Sean Couturier -- Travis Konecny
Carsen Twarynski -- Kevin Hayes -- Jakub Voracek
Michael Raffl -- Mikhail Vorobyev -- Tyler Pitlick
Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim -- Philippe Myers
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Scratched: Chris Stewart, Robert Hagg
Injured:Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder), Scott Laughton (broken finger)

Status report

Kotkaniemi took part in an optional morning skate but will miss his fourth straight game. Julien said he hopes Kotkaniemi can play against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. ... The Flyers held an optional morning skate. Raffl and Twarynski switching places on the third and fourth lines is expected to be the only change from Tuesday.

Stat pack

Price is 5-2-0 with a .921 save percentage in his past seven games. ... Giroux has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games.