Minnesota @ Montreal preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 7, 2019 ) Minnesota 1, Montreal 0

The Montreal Canadiens were unable to follow up a decisive victory over the defending Stanley Cup champions, getting shut down by the reigning Presidents' Trophy winners on Tuesday night. The Canadiens will look to salvage a split of a four-game homestand and exploit a struggling opponent when they host the skidding Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

Montreal coach Claude Julien was not pleased with his team's performance in Tuesday's 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay, particularly after the Canadiens thumped St. Louis 6-3 three days earlier. "Our biggest problem since the beginning of the season is we're not playing 60 minutes," Julien said. "We need to correct that aspect of our game if we want to win more games." The Wild will be playing on the road for the sixth time in seven games to open the season and have just one win while each of their losses has been by at least two goals. Minnesota earned its first win by blanking Ottawa 2-0 on Monday in the opener of the three-game Canadian trip but could not keep pace with Toronto in a 4-2 setback 24 hours later.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), RDS, TSN2

ABOUT THE WILD (1-5-0): Devan Dubnyk has been the anchor in net since his acquisition in 2014-15, appearing in at least 60 games in each of the past four seasons, but he is off to a dreadful start and sports an 0-5-0 record and a 4.44 goals-against average. So Dubnyk will be a spectator Thursday while the start goes to backup Alex Stalock, who turned aside all 26 shots to record the shutout in Ottawa. "He really helps the (defensemen) with the puck. And I like that," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I hope he brings that same mental toughness that he seems to be lacking a little bit."

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (2-2-2): When Julien juggled his lines at Wednesday's practice, Jesperi Kotkaniemi was back on the third line between Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armia, a positive development after he was briefly benched and demoted to the fourth line Tuesday. "Like I've said, of course I love playing with them," Kotkaniemi said. "But in the end, it doesn't matter where I'm playing; I'm just happy to be here." Julien noted that rookie defenseman Cale Fleury could return to the lineup against the Wild after he was a healthy scratch for the previous four games.

OVERTIME

1. Canadiens G Carey Price is 4-7-0 with a 2.96 goals-against average versus the Wild.

2. Stalock blanked the Canadiens in his only career start against them while with San Jose in March 2015.

3. Montreal has surrendered seven power-play tallies in six games.

PREDICTION: Canadiens 4, Wild 2