Penguins at Canadiens preview

PENGUINS (33-22-9) at CANADIENS (35-23-7)
7 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

Price is expected to start after getting his 313th NHL victory, all with Montreal, in a 4-2 win at the New York Rangers on Friday. He is one win behind Jacques Plante (314). Price is 313-219-67 in 609 games; Plante was 314-133 with 107 ties in 556 games.
Montreal holds the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference; the Canadiens are two points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh, and five points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division.
The Penguins, who lost 4-3 in overtime at the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, are tied in points (75) with Columbus, which holds the second wild card from the East. Pittsburgh is 5-2-2 in its past nine games after going 2-5-1 in its previous eight.

Players to watch

Penguins center Sidney Crosby has 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in his past 10 games. He needs one goal to move into sole possession of second on Pittsburgh's all-time list (440).
Canadiens forward Max Domi has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"We're just taking each game as it comes. We're going to try to win that game right in front of us." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"I think we have to be more confident every night to get some success. We can't think about a loss or a bad play or anything, we have to be positive and comfortable playing in tight situations." -- Canadiens forward Joel Armia

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Evgeni Malkin - Phil Kessel
Jared McCann -- Nick Bjugstad -- Dominik Simon
Teddy Blueger
-- Matt Cullen -- Garrett Wilson
Jack Johnson -- Justin Schultz
Marcus Pettersson -- Erik Gudbranson
Zach Trotman
-- Juuso Riikola
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched:None
Injured: Olli Maatta (upper body), Brian Dumoulin (concussion), Kris Letang (upper body), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body), Bryan Rust (lower body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Jonathan Drouin -- Max Domi -- Andrew Shaw
Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Paul Byron -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen -- Nate Thompson -- Dale Weise
Victor Mete
-- Shea Weber
Jordie Benn -- Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak -- Christian Folin
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched:Jordan Weal, Charles Hudon, Nicolas Deslauriers, Matthew Peca, Mike Reilly
Injured:None

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. … Dumoulin and Letang are not on the trip.

Stat pack

Malkin has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past 12 games. … Armia scored three goals Friday and became the third Canadiens player to score his first NHL hat trick in the past five games along with Shaw, who scored three goals in an 8-1 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, and Gallagher, who had three in a 5-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 21.