Five things you should know about the Canadiens-Minnesota Wild game at Xcel Energy Centre in St. Paul, Minn., Tuesday (8 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio), by Pat Hickey

1 The matchup

The Canadiens are coming off a 3-2 win in Chicago on Sunday and are riding a three-game winning streak. Tomas Tatar scored the winning goal with 1:17 to play and Montreal improved to 1510-5. That’s good for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Wild was on the wrong end of a 7-2 count Friday in Edmonton and is on a twogame losing streak. Minnesota is three points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 15-12-2 record. Minnesota is 7-3 against the Canadiens at home and has won the teams’ last five meetings in St. Paul.

2 Look for Niemi

Canadiens head coach Claude Julien is still mulling his options, but said he is considering a start in goal for Antti Niemi. Carey Price has started the last seven games and, while he’s had a day of rest, it makes sense to use Niemi so he doesn’t get too rusty. Niemi, whose last game was Nov. 23 in Buffalo, has a 4-2-1 record this season with a 3.61 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage.

3 Weber sparks Canadiens

Shea Weber isn’t showing any signs of rust after being off for nearly a year following surgeries on his foot and knee. Weber played a season-high 29:32 in the win over Chicago on Sunday and 8:32 of that total was while the Canadiens were short-handed. The Canadiens took eight penalties and killed off seven of the Blackhawks’ power plays. Weber also scored a goal — his third in six games — and has five points and a plus-5 rating. He has been averaging more than 25 minutes a game.

4 Juulsen return on hold

Noah Juulsen is champing at the bit, but he might have to wait until the team returns to Montreal to get back into the lineup. Julien had been targeting the Chicago game for Juulsen, but he decided to stick with the same lineup that swept Ottawa last week. Juulsen was a top-four defenceman before he suffered a facial fracture, but he’ll return to a third-pairing role, which means he’ll push out Jordie Benn or Mike Reilly. Reilly will probably be in the lineup Tuesday because he’s from Minnesota and played for the Wild.

5 The other guys

Goaltender Devan Dubnyk has struggled of late and that’s the major reason the Wild has lost five of its last six games. Dubnyk has a 1-5 record in his last seven appearances. Mikael Granlund leads the scoring parade with 11 goals and 28 points. Zach Parise has 24 points, including a team-high 13 goals. Mikko Koivu has 21 points, but Saku’s kid brother has missed the past two games with a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. Veteran Eric Staal and defenceman Matt Dumba each have 10 goals.