Islanders at Canadiens preview

ISLANDERS (18-5-2) at CANADIENS (11-10-6)
7 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, MSG+, NHL.TV

The Canadiens are 0-5-3 in their past eight while being outscored 38-20. It's their longest winless streak since going 0-6-2 with one tie from Feb. 18 to March 8, 2003.
Goalie Thomas Greiss is expected to start for the Islanders after Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves in a 4-1 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Monday. New York is 17-2-2 in its past 21 games.

Players to watch

Islanders forward Anders Lee has scored goals in consecutive games after having none in his previous 11.
Canadiens forward Joel Armia has a three-game goal streak and is tied with Brendan Gallagher for the team lead with 10 goals.

They said it

"It's going to be a tough one. It's a tough building to play in and they're going to come after us pretty hard." -- Islanders captain Anders Lee
"Right now, I think in order to turn things around you need to play really, really well and we're going to need a little bit of puck luck. I've won a Stanley Cup (with the Boston Bruins in 2011) and I can stand here and tell you that had we not had any puck luck, we wouldn't have won a Stanley Cup. So that's part of the game, and there are certain things you can control, and certain things you can't. All we can control right now is our effort and then playing well and hoping that along the way maybe the bounce goes your way versus against you." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier -- Brock Nelson -- Derick Brassard
Leo Komarov -- Otto Koivula -- Jordan Eberle
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy -- Johnny Boychuk
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews -- Scott Mayfield
Thomas Greiss
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched:Ross Johnston, Michael Dal Colle, Noah Dobson
Injured:Tom Kuhnhackl (lower body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen -- Max Domi -- Nick Suzuki
Nick Cousins -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Joel Armia
Matthew Peca -- Nate Thompson -- Jordan Weal
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Brett Kulak -- Jeff Petry
Gustav Olofsson -- Cale Fleury
Carey Price
Cayden Primeau
Scratched:Mike Reilly, Charles Hudon
Injured: Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Paul Byron (knee), Victor Mete (ankle)

Status report

The Islanders did not hold a morning skate. … Primeau and Peca were recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Monday. Primeau will make his NHL debut in one of two straight sets of back-to-back games this week, Julien said.

Stat pack

The Islanders' 18 wins in their first 25 games matches a team record set in 1978-79. They are 14-0-1 in their past 15 against Eastern Conference opponents. … Price needs one shutout to tie Ken Dryden (46) for third place in Canadiens history. He is two wins from tying Nikolai Khabibulin and Gump Worsley (333) for 24th in NHL history.