Canadiens at Hurricanes
The Montreal Canadiens have struggled to find consistency since their 10-game point streak (9-0-1) came to an end three weeks ago, but they will face an opponent that has won just once in the same span when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. A 4-1 loss at Florida on Sunday dropped Montreal to 4-5-0 in its last nine and 2-2-0 on its current six-game road trip, which winds up Thursday in Dallas. The Canadiens won all three meetings against Carolina last season.
The Hurricanes have dropped five in a row (0-3-2) and eight of nine (1-4-4) following Sunday's 5-2 loss in Toronto, prompting general manager Jim Rutherford to explore trade possibilities to shake up the roster. Rutherford met with Carolina coach Kirk Muller and direction of hockey operations Ron Francis on Monday and admitted he was working the phones to get the team out of its funk. "It's got to stop now," Rutherford said. "A handful of players are not playing to their potential."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, RDS (Montreal), FSN Carolina
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (23-14-3): One reason for the sporadic play over the past nine games has been Montreal's offense, which has managed only 13 goals in that stretch. "We haven’t been playing with intensity; we haven’t been first on the puck,” captain Brian Gionta told the Montreal Gazette. “We've been relying a lot on (goaltender Carey Price) and we have to find a way to be more consistent.” The power play has been stagnant for most of December, producing goals in only two of the past 12 games and converting on three of its last 35 opportunities.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (14-16-9): Carolina is trying to take a glass half-full approach to its current slide, realizing that before to the loss at Toronto, the previous three defeats all came by one goal after the Hurricanes took a lead into the third period. "We've outplayed teams over that stretch but the results unfortunately are what counts," defenseman Ron Hainsey said. "For various reasons at the end of the night we haven't gotten that result - but there are things that are easily identifiable and things we can improve on."
OVERTIME
1. Canadiens C Tomas Plekanec has 11 goals and 21 assists in 30 games against the Hurricanes.
2. Carolina captain Eric Staal will surpass Glen Wesley (729) for the most games played as a member of the Hurricanes.
3. The Canadiens own the league's fourth-best penalty kill and have snuffed out 24-of-26 short-handed situations.