Canadiens at Canucks
Carey Price returned from the Montreal Canadiens' league-mandated break and has shown flashes of the form that saw him claim the Hart and Vezina Trophy two seasons ago. Named the NHL's Third Star of the Week, Price will look to guide the Atlantic Division-leading Canadiens to their sixth straight win on Tuesday when the Vancouver native returns home to face the host Canucks.
The 29-year-old Price has yielded 10 goals in his last seven starts overall and turned aside all 42 shots he faced in Montreal's 3-0 win over Vancouver on Nov. 2, improving to 7-2-2 with two shutouts against his hometown team. Alex Galchenyuk set up two goals in that contest and did the same in Saturday's 4-1 win over the New York Rangers, giving him three goals and four assists on his five-game point streak. Vancouver's Bo Horvat enjoyed his time in Southern California over the weekend, matching a career high for assists and points in a game with three in a 4-3 win over Los Angeles before scoring his team-leading 20th goal the following night in a 2-1 triumph against Anaheim. "We keep battling. We keep trying to prove people wrong," the 21-year-old said of a Canucks team that resides six points behind St. Louis for the final wild-card spot. "This team has a lot of fight, a lot of character and a lot of good hockey players. We're right there."
TV: 10 p.m. ET, Sportsnet East (Montreal), RDS, Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (37-21-8): Captain Max Pacioretty (team-leading 31 goals, 58 points) notched two assists on Saturday to increase his point total to 19 (10 goals, nine assists) in his past 16 games. Alexander Radulov (club-best 31 assists) is doubtful to play after missing one contest with a lower-body injury. The 30-year-old Russian has been held off the scoresheet in eight of his last nine games, with the one exception being a four-point outburst (one goal, three assists) in a 4-3 overtime victory over New Jersey on Feb. 27.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (28-30-7): Markus Granlund has scored a goal in three of his last five games to increase his total to a career-best 17, eclipsing the sum of his previous four seasons with Calgary and Vancouver. Loui Eriksson's disastrous season got worse on Sunday as the forward exited the contest following a knee-on-knee collision with Ducks forward Chris Wagner. The 31-year-old Swede had just ended a nine-game point drought with a pair of assists versus Los Angeles on Saturday, raising his total to 24 points after signing as a free agent in July following three productive seasons with Boston.
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver LW Sven Baertschi has four goals and two assists in the past eight games.
2. Montreal owns a stellar 7-3-1 mark versus Pacific Division representatives.
3. Canucks G Richard Bachman, who made 43 saves on Sunday, owns a 5-0-0 mark with a 1.40 goals-against average and .957 save percentage in his last five starts dating to the 2014-15 season.