Canadiens at Blues preview

CANADIENS (23-16-5) at BLUES (17-20-4)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, RDS, TSN2, NHL.TV

Binnington became the 35th goalie in NHL history to get a shutout in his first start when he made 25 saves in a 3-0 win at the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.
Blues forward
Mackenzie MacEachern
will make his NHL debut after being recalled from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Thursday. MacEachern was a third-round pick (No. 67) in the 2012 NHL Draft.
Defenseman Karl Alzner will play for the Canadiens for the first time since Nov. 24. Alzner, who was waived and assigned to Laval of the AHL on Nov. 27, has been a healthy scratch for the past seven games since being recalled on Dec. 26.

Players to watch

Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past eight games.
Blues forward David Perron has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) during an eight-game point streak, which is tied for his NHL career best, set with the Vegas Golden Knights from Jan. 18-Feb. 2, 2018 (12 points; four goals, eight assists).

They said it

"We're playing a team with a big, heavy game tonight, so we want to make sure that we're ready to have some bodies that will give us a little more size in our lineup." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien
"I'm excited. Obviously, you dream about it as a kid to play in the NHL and I get my first chance here." -- Blues forward Mackenzie MacEachern on making his NHL debut

Canadiens projected lineup

Jonathan Drouin -- Max Domi -- Joel Armia
Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Paul Byron
Kenny Agostino -- Michael Chaput -- Nicolas Deslauriers
Victor Mete -- Shea Weber
Karl Alzner -- Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak -- Jordie Benn
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Mike Reilly, Charles Hudon, Matthew Peca
Injured: Andrew Shaw (neck), David Schlemko (upper body)

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Zach Sanford -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron
Robby Fabbri -- Robert Thomas -- Oskar Sundqvist
Sammy Blais -- Ivan Barbashev -- Mackenzie MacEachern
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jordan Binnington
Jake Allen
Scratched:Pat Maroon
Injured:Tyler Bozak (upper body), Alexander Steen (shoulder), Vince Dunn (lower body)

Status report

Alzner will replace Reilly, and Chaput and Deslauriers will replace Peca and Hudon in the Canadiens lineup. ... Maroon will be a healthy scratch for the second time in four games. ... Bozak will miss his third straight game.

Stat pack

Price is 5-4-0 with a 2.25 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in his past nine starts. ... The Blues have lost four of six games after winning five of their previous seven.