Hurricanes at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens have gone more than a month without posting back-to-back wins in regulation, a streak they look to halt when they host the reeling Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. It is the final game before the All-Star break for the Canadiens, who snapped Colorado's 10-game winning streak with an impressive 4-1 victory on Tuesday.
Montreal had lost four of its previous five games, including three setbacks to Atlantic Division rival Boston in an eight-day span, before nearly outshooting the Avalanche by a 2-to-1 margin (40-22). "That's when we're at our best, when we're skating, forechecking and on them," said Canadiens center Jonathan Drouin, who scored once and set up a pair of goals. Carolina ripped off a four-game winning streak wrapped around the Christmas break but has stumbled since, dropping eight of its last 11 (3-7-1) and scoring one goal apiece in back-to-back losses to Vegas and Pittsburgh. The Hurricanes had lost seven straight in Montreal prior to a 4-1 victory last March and also posted a 3-1 victory over the visiting Canadiens on Dec. 27 in the first game following the Christmas break.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Carolina), RDS, TSN2 (Montreal)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (21-19-8): Sebastian Aho, who leads Carolina in goals (14) and points (37), skated on his own before Wednesday's practice. Aho, who scored twice versus Montreal last month, will miss his fourth game in a row after suffering a concussion and lower-body injury versus Calgary on Jan. 14. "He's coming along," coach Bill Peters said. "It's going in the right direction. Hopefully he's not that sore tomorrow that he can go back out tomorrow and skate, whether it's in the pregame skate or on his own."
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (20-22-6): While Drouin collected his first three-point game with Montreal, forward Nicolas Deslauriers hit a milestone of his own against the Avalanche. Like Drouin, Deslauriers also is in his first year with the Canadiens and notched his third goal in six games to give him a career-high seven for the season -- besting his previous high of six with Buffalo in 2015-16. "His confidence is probably at its highest right now," coach Claude Julien said. "Wherever we put him, he meets expectations."
OVERTIME
1. Canadiens G Carey Price is 14-7-2 with three shutouts against the Hurricanes.
2. Carolina is 10-for-32 on the power play this month.
3. Canadiens F Alex Galchenyuk has six points in his last seven games and scored in the early-season matchup versus Carolina.