Stars at Canadiens
After winning two straight and three of their last four games, the Montreal Canadiens look to continue their ascent in the Atlantic Division when they return from the All-Star break to host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. The Canadiens kept within three points of front-running Tampa Bay by skating to a 6-4 triumph over the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders on Jan. 17 and a 2-1 overtime triumph over Central-best Nashville last Tuesday. "It's the push towards the playoffs. Our goal is to get to the dance," said All-Star Carey Price, who has done his part by residing in the league's top five in wins (24), save percentage (.929) and goals-against average (2.15).
Montreal converted twice on the power play in both contests prior to the All-Star break but failed on both opportunities with the extra skater in a 4-1 setback to Dallas on Dec. 6. Tyler Seguin scored two goals and set up another in that contest, and his 28 tallies have him tied with New York Rangers forward and fellow All-Star Rick Nash for the league lead. The Stars have answered a four-game winless streak by emerging victorious in three of their last five contests.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest Plus (Dallas), RSN, RDS (Montreal)
ABOUT THE STARS (21-18-7): The offseason acquisitions of Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky brought about plenty of talk - but unfortunately, not much else as Dallas sits four points out of a wild-card berth. "I think we bought into our own hype, and probably wanted to do it a little bit the easy way with scoring," general manager Jim Nill told the Dallas Morning News. "And then that created a situation where we were swimming upstream and trying to do too much." Spezza has fallen off his point-per-game pace over his career by recording just 34 (eight goals, 26 assists) in 46 contests with the Stars.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (29-13-3): Max Pacioretty tallied seven times during his six-game goal-scoring streak and added three assists during his seven-game point run before being held in check by the Predators. Pacioretty has done significant damage at home, recording 12 goals and 15 assists to register 27 of his 38 points at the Bell Centre. Tomas Plekanec scored two goals and set up four others in three games before being held off the scoresheet versus Nashville but has just two assists for his only points in eight career meetings with the Stars.
OVERTIME
1. Dallas recalled Ds Jamie Oleksiak and Jyrki Jokipakka from Texas of the American Hockey League on Monday.
2. Montreal is 7-for-18 on the power play in its last four games after going 1-for-21 in the previous seven.
3. The Stars are just 2-4-0 against Atlantic Division representatives this season.