CANADIENS AT DEVILS

Pat Hickey looks at five things you should know about the Canadiens-New Jersey Devils game at Prudential Centre on Wednesday (7 p.m., SN1, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).

1. The matchup

The Canadiens hold the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference after earning a point in their 5-4 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre on Monday. Montreal has taken five of a possible six points in the last three games and boasts an 11-6-4 record. The Devils got off to a promising start this season, but they’re 3-6-1 in their last 10 games. After losing 2-1 in Carolina on Sunday, the Devils share the Eastern Conference cellar with Pittsburgh, but Montreal should be aware the Devils are 6-1-2 at home.

2. Kotkaniemi steps up

Rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi was promoted to the first unit on the power play Monday and earned an assist on Jeff Petry’s goal. It was one of two assists for the 18-yearold Finn, who has three goals and 12 points. That ties him for second place among rookie scorers in the NHL — Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson leads the parade with 19. There are only five players from last June’s draft playing in the NHL and Kotkaniemi is the leading scorer in that group. He’s also getting better on his faceoffs, winning 10 of 16 draws against the Capitals.

3. Domi can handle himself

Max Domi’s father, Tie, was one of the fiercest fighters in the NHL and it seems he passed on a few tricks to his son. The younger Domi sought retribution for what he perceived as a dirty hit on Tomas Tatar and dropped the gloves with Dmitry Orlov. The Washington player got in the first licks, but Domi bounced off the ice and did some damage with two uppercuts. When he wasn’t fighting, the Canadiens’ leading scorer picked up an assist on Petry’s goal to run his consecutive-game points streak to 10 games.

4. Juulsen sidelined indefinitely

There will be at least one lineup change for the Canadiens. The team announced Tuesday that defenceman Noah Juulsen suffered a facial fracture when he was struck by a shot from Brett Connolly in the first period Wednesday. It was a tough night for Juulsen, who was struck in the face by a shot from Jakub Vrana on his first shift. He returned after that incident, but was sent to a hospital after he blocked Connolly’s shot and the puck went off his stick and hit him in the face. Look for Xavier Ouellet to replace him.

5. The other guys

The Devils will get a lift with the return of centre Nico Hischier, who has missed four games with an upper-body injury. The 19-year-old Swiss star practised Tuesday and will rejoin Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri on the Devils’ top line. Palmieri is the team’s top scorer with 11 goals and 20 points, while Hall has five goals and 19 points. Keith Kinkaid, who was tabbed as the backup, has wrested the No. 1 goaltending job away from Cory Schneider. Kinkaid has an 8-5-2 record with a 2.61 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.