Red Wings at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens look to set a franchise record on Saturday should they remain perfect at Bell Centre following a home game against the Atlantic Division-rival Detroit Red Wings. The 1953-54 Canadiens opened their season with a record nine straight home victories before, ironically, falling to the Red Wings.
Former Vezina and Hart Trophy winner Carey Price and forward Alex Galchenyuk have played significant roles in giving the home fans a thrill this season, with the former winning all eight of his starts in Montreal and the latter scoring all six of his team-leading goals at Bell Centre. Price, who owns an 8-3-1 mark with a shutout in his career versus Detroit, continued his winning ways on Thursday by improving to 9-0-0 overall and 19-2-0 in his last 21 outings following his 23-save performance in a 4-1 victory over Los Angeles. Detroit has a tested goaltender in its own right in veteran Jimmy Howard (4-2-0, 1.22 goals-against average, .961 save percentage), who has yielded eight goals in six starts this season. Howard won his second straight outing after turning aside 36 shots in a 3-1 victory versus Vancouver on Thursday, but the 32-year-old has struggled in seven of 10 career contests (3-5-2) against the Canadiens.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, SN, TVAS (Montreal), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (8-6-1): Detroit placed speedy center Andreas Athanasiou (knee) on injured reserve Friday and recalled right wing Anthony Mantha from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League. The 22-year-old Mantha (eight goals, two assists in 10 games) has excelled with the Griffins and is set to step in for Athanasiou, who sustained the injury on a hit from Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin. Mantha has fond memories of playing the Canadiens in his young career, scoring his first NHL goal at home versus Montreal and his second at the Bell Centre.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (12-1-1): Paul Byron netted a goal in his second straight contest and extended his point streak to three games by opening the scoring on Thursday. The 27-year-old looks to keep his good fortune going versus Detroit, against which he scored and set up a goal in his last encounter. Russian import Alexander Radulov notched his club-best ninth assist on Byron's goal Thursday to increase his point streak to three games as well.
OVERTIME
1. Montreal has opened the scoring in 11 of its 14 games this season.
2. Detroit failed on all four power plays Thursday and is 3-for-35 in its last 10 contests.
3. The Canadiens are just 1-for-11 on the power play in November after scoring with the man advantage in seven of their nine games last month.