Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Montreal Canadiens (11-9-2, 24 points) and Washington Capitals (12-9-1, 25 points) go head-to-head live from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. in the first of three meetings against one another this season. The game can be live streamed here. Montreal fans can hear all of the action by adjusting their dials to TSN 690 while Washington fans can do the same on WFED 1500.
Montreal is coming off of a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Wild Tuesday after Max Pacioretty recorded a natural hat trick in the second period and David Desharnais assisted on two of the goals, while Washington had a chance to get back into first place but instead fell three points shy of the division-leading Pittsburgh Penguins when the Pens blanked them 4-0 on Wednesday.
The Canadiens will hope to take that momentum into tonight's game.
"You can tell when those two guys are going that we're a much rounder group," goalie Carey Price said of Pacioretty and Desharnais in The Montreal Gazette. "It's really good to see. They've been working hard all year and to finally see them get rewarded for their work is good."
Price will have the night off while Peter Budaj will man the crease for Montreal. Budaj is 3-1-0 this season with a 1.48 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage.
The Capitals will look to bounce back after getting blanked by Pittsburgh Wednesday and Adam Oates wasn't sure who would be between the pipes for his team but said he was leaning towards Braden Holtby.
"I'd like to give Holts a chance to maybe bounce back [Friday] and get another [start]," Oates told CSNWashington.com, "but we're still deciding because we have a split on the weekend."
Holtby is 10-7-0 with a 2.70 GAA and a .923 save percentage.
If Holtby gets the nod, he'll look to stop a Montreal offense that is led by P.K. Subban, who has 19 points off of three goals and 16 assists while Alex Galchenyuk has three goals and two assists in his past five games for a total of five tallies and 11 helpers for 16 points and Brendan Gallagher (eight goals, six assists) and Tomas Plekanec (six goals, eight assists) each have 14 points.
The Capitals have been led by captain Alex Ovechkin who is tied for the league lead with 17 goals while adding seven assists for 24 points. Nicklas Backstrom also has 24 points by lighting the lamp five times and is tied for second in the league by adding 19 assists, while Mikhail Grabovski (seven tallies, 11 assists) and Marcus Johansson (two goals, 16 helpers) each have 18 points.
Washington defenseman Mike Green (lower-body) is expected to return to the lineup.
Montreal will look to keep rolling while Washington looks to shake off a tough division loss when these two teams hit the ice at Verizon Center tonight.
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