Elliott hitting his stride at right time

Montreal Canadiens (3821-8) at Calgary Flames (36-26-4) 7 p.m., Sportsnet West, Sportsnet 960 The Fan

WHO TO WATCH

Flames: G Brian Elliott Brian Elliott’s marvellous roll has continued. He stood tall for his club in the second periods of both Sunday’s 5-2 win over the New York Islanders and Friday’s 3-2 overtime triumph over the Detroit Red Wings. Establishing himself as the starting netminder, Elliott’s hot streak is coming at a perfect time. With only 16 more games until the post-season begins, they’ll need a string of good performances from their netminder. Since the NHL All-Star break, Elliott is 9-1-1 with a 2.19 goals against average and .927 save percentage. It took him a while but finally the 31-year-old is playing the type of hockey the Flames need him to play. Canadiens: C Paul Byron Back to where it all began. Well, sort of. Paul Byron broke into the National Hockey League as a member of the Calgary Flames. Battling injuries, he played 130 regular season games for the Flames over four seasons in the system. But, in the fall of 2015, the team went in another direction and Byron was claimed off waivers by the Canadiens. The move left Flames fans wondering “What if” as Byron has now scored 27 goals and 22 assists over 128 games with the Habs — especially when they see him scoring on breakaways (which he had trouble doing as a member of the Flames). The speedy undersized winger has carved out a nice career for himself and scored the overtime winner on Tuesday against the Canucks.

SET-UP NOTES

Saturday’s 5-2 triumph against the New York Islanders at the Saddledome marked Calgary’s seventh straight win … the Flames are 12-2-1 in their last 15 games and have points in nine in a row (8-0-1) … With his overtime win against the Canucks on Tuesday, Canadiens netminder Carey Price reached the 30-win plateau for the fourth time in his career. As per Elias, Price joins Ken Dryden, Jacques Plante, and Patrick Roy as the only Canadiens goalie with four or more 30-win seasons … Up next? Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada clash at Winnipeg before a four-game home stand with games against Pittsburgh (Monday), Boston (Wednesday), Dallas (Friday), and Los Angeles (next Saturday) … Standings watch: at the moment, Calgary (36-26-4) with 76 points sits slightly behind Anaheim (34-22-10) and Edmonton (35-23-8), both with 78 points.

INJURIES

Flames: None. Canadiens: C Tomas Plekanec (upper body), RW Alexander Radulov (lower body), C Brian Flynn (upper body)