Columbus @ Montreal preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 19, 2019 ) Montreal 2, Columbus 5

The Montreal Canadiens are beginning to gain steam in an attempt to climb back into the Eastern Conference playoff race and face one of the teams they are chasing Sunday afternoon when the Columbus Blue Jackets pay a visit. The Canadiens have won four of their last five and six of eight after Carey Price turned aside 29 shots for his third shutout of the season in a 4-0 victory over Florida on Saturday.

Montreal is eight points behind Columbus, which holds down one of the two wild-card spots in the East, after killing off all six Florida power plays Saturday and getting a career-high four points (all assists) from defenseman Jeff Petry. The Canadiens edged the Blue Jackets in a shootout 3-2 on Nov. 12 before center Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice and set up another goal one week later for a 5-2 victory over Montreal at home, but Columbus has not won at the Bell Centre since 2017. The Blue Jackets saw their six-game winning streak come to an end after a long All-Star break Saturday, but have gained at least a point in seven contests in a row (6-0-1) after a 2-1 overtime loss at Buffalo. Coach John Tortorella said he had no negative thoughts on the game and Columbus forward Gustav Nyquist told reporters: “That’s sometimes the good part about this league when you get a back-to-back, you know you get a loss and get a fire under your butts, so we’ll be ready to go (Sunday).”

TIME: 2 p.m. ET. TV: FS Ohio, TVA, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario

ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (27-16-9): Forward Oliver Bjorkstrand on Saturday scored his fifth goal in three contests since returning from the injured list and has scored 10 times in a seven-game span sandwiching a near-month absence. Dubois leads the team with 39 points after recording five assists in his past three outings while Nyquist helped set up Bjorkstrand’s goal Saturday to push his point total to 33. Elvis Merzlikins (9-6-4, .926 save percentage), who was rested Saturday, is expected back between the pipes to go after his sixth consecutive victory.

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (24-22-7): Left wing Tomas Tatar registered his 19th goal Saturday and pushed his team-leading total to 47 points while right wing Brendan Gallagher scored for the second straight game since returning from a concussion. Tatar has eight points in his past six games and center Phillip Danault boasts a goal and six assists over the same span to sit second on the team with 38 points. Forward Nick Suzuki became the sixth rookie in the league this season to reach 10 goals Saturday and the 20-year-old, acquired with Tatar from Vegas in the Max Pacioretty deal, recorded five of his 32 points in the past three contests.

OVERTIME

1. Montreal sent C Jesperi Kotkaniemi (six goals, 36 games), the third-overall pick in the 2018 draft, to AHL Laval on Saturday.

2. Columbus RW Cam Atkinson is two goals away from becoming the second player (with Rick Nash) in franchise history with 200.

3. The Blue Jackets killed 12-of-13 power plays the past seven games while the Canadiens are 4-for-39 with the man advantage in the past 14 contests.

PREDICTION: Canadiens 3, Blue Jackets 2