The Canadiens are home to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Pat Hickey offers five things you need to know about the game:
1 Julien stands pat
The forwards failed to score in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Ottawa — defencemen Andrei Markov and Shea Weber provided the goals — but Canadiens coach Claude Julien isn’t making changes. Alex Galchenyuk had an assist, but was minus-1 for a third consecutive game and his defensive play might explain why he was on the ice for only 11:51. That’s a seasonlow for Galchenyuk.
2 Chilly March
With all the concern over the lack of secondary scoring, it should be noted that the guys on the No. 1 line have been struggling in March. Max Pacioretty had an assist Saturday, but has only two goals and three assists in March. Alex Radulov, who missed a few games, has two assists and Philip Danault has a goal and four assists.
3 Price stands tall
It should come as no surprise that goaltender Carey Price is the biggest reason the Canadiens are clinging to first place in the Atlantic Division. He has won 10 of his last 13 starts with three of those wins against Ottawa, the team trying to catch Montreal for the top spot. He has a 1.61 goals-against average in those games and a .941 save percentage.
4 Sibling rivalry
This is the first time in their NHL careers that Canadiens defenceman Jordie Benn will be matched against his kid brother and former Dallas teammate, Jamie. While Jamie is a high-scoring centre with Team Canada, each of the brothers have two goals since the trading deadline. And for the record, former Canadien Greg Pateryn is settling in on the Stars’ blue-line after a slow start.
5 The other guys
It has been a rough year for the Stars, who are one loss away from being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Goaltender Kari Lehtonen was one of the NHL’s three stars last week, but the Stars rank last in the NHL in defence. Tyler Seguin leads the offence with 25 goals and 70 points, while Jamie Benn has 25 goals and 67 points.