Devils at Canadiens preview

DEVILS (41-28-9) at CANADIENS (28-38-12)
7 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, MSG+, NHL.TV

The Devils, 7-2-1 in their past 10 games, hold the second wild card from the Eastern Conference, five points ahead of the Florida Panthers, who have a game in hand. New Jersey is three points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the first wild card, and trails the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have played one more game, by three points for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Carey Price will play his 556th NHL game, all with Montreal, to tie Jacques Plante for the most games played by a goalie in Canadiens history.
Montreal, 3-9-2 in its past 14 games, has been eliminated from playoff contention.

Players to watch

Devils forward Taylor Hall has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in a seven-game point streak
Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.

They said it

"I'm confident that nothing is going to beat me. Obviously there are tips and bounces made during the game, but I'm trying to do my best to give the team the best shot to win." -- Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid, who will make his sixth straight start
"You want to play hockey hard, you want to play the right way and there's still something you can grab from those last four games before the end of the season." -- Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin

Devils projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Nico Hischier -- Kyle Palmieri
Michael Grabner -- Pavel Zacha -- Pat Maroon
Blake Coleman -- Travis Zajac -- Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood -- Brian Boyle -- Jesper Bratt
Andy Greene -- Sami Vatanen
John Moore -- Ben Lovejoy
Mirco Mueller -- Will Butcher
Keith Kinkaid
Cory Schneider
Scratched: Drew Stafford, Jimmy Hayes, Brian Gibbons, Damon Severson, Marcus Johansson
Injured:None

Canadiens projected lineup

Paul Byron -- Jonathan Drouin -- Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk -- Jacob de la Rose -- Artturi Lehkonen
Nikita Scherbak -- Logan Shaw -- Charles Hudon
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Michael McCarron -- Kerby Rychel
Jordie Benn -- Jeff Petry
Karl Alzner -- Noah Juulsen
David Schlemko -- Brett Lernout
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched:Byron Froese, Daniel Carr, Mike Reilly
Injured: Ales Hemsky (concussion-like symptoms), Max Pacioretty (knee), Victor Mete (finger), Rinat Valiev (lower body), Phillip Danault (upper body), Andrew Shaw (upper body)

Status report

Palmieri left in the third period of a 4-3 win against the New York Islanders on Saturday after he was cut under the right eye by the blade of Greene's stick, but will play. … Johansson was activated off injured reserve. He has missed the past 31 games with a concussion. ... Bratt will replace Gibbons and Lovejoy will replace Severson for New Jersey. ... Rychel is expected to make his Canadiens debut.

Stat pack

Butcher has seven points (one goal, six assists) during a five-game point streak. ...Price has 286 wins, three behind Patrick Roy for second place in Canadiens history.