Forwards Alexander Radulov and Tomas Plekanec will not play for the Montreal Canadiens, who have won five games in a row. Radulov will miss a second straight game with a lower-body injury and Plekanec will miss his first game in almost three years with an upper-body injury. Plekanec, who has not scored in 17 games, had played 236 consecutive games since March 29, 2014. Defenseman Brandon Davidson will make his Canadiens debut after being acquired in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers for forward David Desharnais on Feb. 28. Davidson replaces Alexei Emelin, who is a healthy scratch, on a pairing with Jeff Petry. "He's a guy that thinks the game really well, he moves well and can move the puck well," Petry said. Emelin has dropped from the top pairing to the press box in eight games since Claude Julien took over as coach. "He's had a little bit of a rough stretch here lately but he will find his game again and I would rather have him in my lineup than out," Julien said. "It's not an easy decision but when you are a coach sometimes you have to make tough decisions for the better of the individual and the better of the team." The Canadiens are 6-2-0 under Julien after going 1-5-1 in the previous seven games. Montreal (82 points) leads the Ottawa Senators by four points for first place in the Atlantic Division.
