Canadiens at Canucks preview

CANADIENS (14-15-4) at CANUCKS (15-15-4)
10 p.m. ET; SNP, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV

Boeser, who leads the Canucks and NHL rookies with 17 goals and 30 points, was injured blocking a shot during a 6-1 loss against the Calgary Flames on Sunday but was back on the ice Tuesday morning.
Defenseman Erik Gudranson returns after missing 12 games with an upper-body injury for the Canucks, who are 1-5-0 in their past six games.
The Canadiens are without defenseman Shea Weber, who returned to Montreal to have a foot injury re-examined. The Canadiens went 4-2-1 when Weber missed seven games with the same injury in November.
Goaltender Carey Price will start for Montreal, which is 1-3-1 in its past five games after a five-game winning streak.

Players to watch

Price is 6-3-1 with 20 goals allowed and one shutout in his past 10 starts.
Canucks center Henrik Sedin has 11 assists in his past nine games, and Vancouver forward Daniel Sedin has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in his past nine games.

They said it

"You get a little more of edge to your game and that's what was happening last time so we're definitely not happy he is out, but we're happy we can fill part of the void." -- Canadiens defenseman Karl Alzner on playing without Weber
"It's still obviously sore, but us and the medical team felt I could try skating so we're going to try warmups tonight and hopefully I will be able to play." -- Canucks forward Brock Boeser

Canadiens projected lineup

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

Canucks projected lineup

Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Thomas Vanek
Loui Eriksson -- Sam Gagner -- Brock Boeser
Nikolay Goldobin -- Alexander Burmistrov -- Jake Virtanen
Brendan Gaunce -- Markus Granlund -- Reid Boucher
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot -- Erik Gudbranson
Michael Del Zotto -- Alex Biega
Anders Nilsson
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched: Michael Chaput, Ben Hutton, Nic Dowd
Injured: Chris Tanev (groin), Sven Baertschi (jaw), Bo Horvat (foot), Brandon Sutter (upper body)

Status report

Pacioretty is reunited with Drouin with the Canadiens swapping left and right wings on their top two lines. …Boucher was called up from Utica of the American Hockey League after Boeser was injured, but is expected to play even if Boeser remains in the lineup.

Stat pack

Alzner will play in his 574th consecutive game, the fifth-longest active streak in the NHL. … Vancouver's power play is 16-for-48 (33.3 percent) since Boeser was moved onto the top unit on Nov. 14 after starting the season 10-for-71 (14.1 percent).