Canadiens at Blues preview

CANADIENS (20-23-6) at BLUES (30-18-3)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, RDS, TSN2, NHL.TV

Hutton is 4-1-0 with a 1.45 goals-against average and .952 save percentage in his past five starts.
Jake Allen, who began the season as the Blues' No. 1 goalie, has not started since a 7-4 loss to the Florida Panthers on Jan. 9; the last time he played was a 52-minute stint in relief of Hutton in a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 20.
The Canadiens, 2-3-2 in their past seven games, will dress defenseman Joe Morrow after he had been scratched the past seven games. He'll replace defenseman Jordie Benn.

Players to watch

Canadiens center Paul Byron has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a six-game point streak.
Blues center Brayden Schenn has six points (four goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak; he's scored a goal in all four games.

They said it

"[Jordie Benn] is a good player and we like him. If it was a vote on popularity he'd be in tonight because he's a good team player. He's a kind of guy we like. He's sitting out tonight not because we don't like the guy. It's because he's struggling and I think you have to make hockey decisions vs. popularity decisions. This is where we are right now. There are other guys back there that are struggling. If they don't pick up their game, they'll get their turn as well." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien
"We still believe very strongly in Jake (Allen) and his ability as a starting goalie in the League, but I think that there was a period of time where Jake's game slipped maybe a little bit. But really where we've gotten to a point now is Carter (Hutton's) game is so strong that he's really forced us to put him in the net on a number of occasions here lately." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo

Canadiens projected lineup

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

Blues projected lineup

Ivan Barbashev -- Paul Stastny -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Alexander Steen
Vladimir Sobotka -- Patrik Berglund -- Tage Thompson
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Dmitrij Jaskin
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo
Carter Hutton
Jake Allen
Scratched:Carl Gunnarsson, Chris Thorburn, Oskar Sundqvist
Injured: Zach Sanford (shoulder)

Status report

Andrew Shaw will miss another 4-6 weeks. He hasn't played since Jan. 13. ... Bouwmeester did not take part in the morning skate but will play.

Stat pack

Pacioretty has 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in his past 10 games. ... Stastny has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past 10 games. Steen has seven points (four goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak.