Hurricanes at Canadiens preview

HURRICANES (21-19-8) at CANADIENS (20-22-6)
7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, FS-SE, NHL.TV

Goalie Cam Ward will make his second straight start for Carolina, which is 3-7-1 in its past 11 games after winning seven of eight (7-1-0). The Hurricanes are in last place in the Metropolitan Division, six points behind the second-place New Jersey Devils.
Montreal is 2-1-0 in its past three games since winning two of their previous 10 (2-6-2). The Canadiens ended the Colorado Avalanche's 10-game winning streak, the longest in the NHL this season, with a 4-2 victory Tuesday.

Players to watch

Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal has one assist in his past four games after having six points (three goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak.
Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin had a goal and two assists Tuesday. He has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"We just had our bye week and now we have an all-star break coming up. It's kind of unusual how much time we have off in the middle of the season, so this is a big game for us, especially with where we stand and how tight our (Metropolitan) Division is and making the playoffs." -- Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin
"As a coach, you can't live in the past, you have to live in the present. And we see some good things happening right now, so we have to continue to work to improve our team. We haven't given up." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Hurricanes projected lineup

Teuvo Teravainen -- Jordan Staal -- Elias Lindholm
Brock McGinn -- Victor Rask -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Joakim Nordstrom -- Marcus Kruger -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Scratched: Josh Jooris, Klas Dahlbeck

Injured:Sebastian Aho (concussion/lower body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Max Pacioretty -- Paul Byron -- Charles Hudon
Alex Galchenyuk -- Jonathan Drouin -- Nicolas Deslauriers
Artturi Lehkonen -- Tomas Plekanec -- Brendan Gallagher
Jacob de la Rose -- Byron Froese -- Logan Shaw
Karl Alzner -- Jeff Petry
Victor Mete -- David Schlemko
Jordie Benn -- Jakub Jerabek
Carey Price
Antti Niemi
Scratched:Joe Morrow, Daniel Carr
Injured:Ales Hemsky (upper body), Shea Weber (lower body), Andrew Shaw (lower body), Phillip Danault (concussion-like symptoms)

Status report

Aho took part in the optional morning skate. He skated on his own before practice on Wednesday. ... The Canadiens did not hold a morning skate.

Stat pack

The Hurricanes are 24-for-24 on the penalty kill in their past 12 games against Montreal. ... Teravainen has one assist in six games after having 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in the previous eight games. … Byron has six points (two goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak. ... Pacioretty has nine points (seven goals, two assists) in his past nine games.