Canadiens at Lightning
After being unceremoniously swept aside in last year's first-round playoff series, the Tampa Bay Lightning have outscored the Montreal Canadiens by a 12-3 margin en route to winning the first three meetings this season. The Lightning look to continue their dominance and pull even in points with the Canadiens atop the Atlantic Division when they play the second contest of a six-game homestand on Monday. Tampa Bay has dropped two in a row since Tyler Johnson scored 1:03 into overtime of a 1-0 victory in Montreal on Tuesday.
Johnson has joined captain Steven Stamkos in tallying three times against the Canadiens this season. Max Pacioretty scored a short-handed goal for the second straight contest as Montreal snapped a modest two-game skid with a 3-1 triumph over the New York Islanders on Saturday. Pacioretty has tallied nine times in his last 14 games and his team-leading 34 goals are just five shy of last season's career-high mark.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, RDS (Montreal), SUN (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (43-19-7): Carey Price has dominated nearly every opponent in his way of late - save for Tampa Bay. The Canadian Olympian looks to snap a five-game winless skid (0-3-2) versus the Lightning when he vies for his league-leading 39th victory, which would eclipse his previous career high that was set in 2010-11. Price turned aside 35 shots in the hard-luck overtime loss to Tampa Bay last week and made the same number of saves against New York in his last outing.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (42-21-7): Nikita Kucherov, who has collected four assists against Montreal this season, scored his 26th goal in Tampa Bay's 2-1 setback to Winnipeg on Saturday. Stamkos has just one point in his last four games, but unleashed a blistering 12 shots on goal and recorded a hat trick in the Lightning's 7-1 victory over the Canadiens on Oct. 13. Defenseman Victor Hedman collected a goal and three assists to highlight his career-high four-point performance in that contest, but has been held off the scoresheet in each of the last three games.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay G Ben Bishop stopped all 19 shots he faced in his last meeting with Montreal and owns a stellar 8-1-2 mark with a 1.37 goals-against average versus the division rival.
2. Canadiens RW Brendan Gallagher notched an assist against the Islanders and has scored and set up a goal in three meetings versus Lightning this season.
3. Montreal RW Brian Flynn will be inserted into the lineup in place of C Torrey Mitchell, who suffered an upper-body injury on Saturday.