Canadiens look to shut down streaking Stars

Two of the NHL’s hottest teams will meet in Montreal on Saturday when the Canadiens try to snap the Dallas Stars’ six-game winning streak.

The Canadiens return home after a 3-2 overtime victory Friday against the Washington Capitals. Coach Martin St. Louis’ team has won three straight, all in either overtime or a shootout, and six of the past seven.

While other teams have longer current streaks, few may be able to match the quality of the Canadiens’ recent competition. Montreal’s past six wins include triumphs over the Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights, who are tied (along with the Winnipeg Jets) with a league-best 59 points, as well as the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks, who all sit in playoff spots.

Except for the Canucks game, Montreal’s wins during the surge all came on the road.

Defense has been the cornerstone of the recent rise. The Canadiens allowed two or fewer goals in five of those six wins, even though they played four of the NHL’s top seven scoring teams: Washington, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Vegas.

“This last little while, we’ve given ourselves a chance every game,” St. Louis said after the Friday win. “I think the foundation of all that success is what we do defensively and how much we value that.”

Cole Caufield leads the Canadiens with 23 goals and has scored in each of the past five games. Nick Suzuki, whose 42 points lead the team, has a five-game point streak (two goals, five assists) and scored the OT game-winner against the Capitals.

Montreal, which is one point out in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, may welcome back Patrik Laine (illness) and David Savard (upper body) on Saturday. Both players, who have been out since the beginning of the month, did not travel to Washington, but RDS reported both skated Friday in Quebec.

The Stars, who reached the Western Conference finals the past two seasons, currently hold the third playoff spot in the Central Division. Coach Pete DeBoer’s team is tied with the Detroit Red Wings for the longest active winning streak.

A month ago, Dallas was eight points behind both Winnipeg and the Minnesota Wild in the division. Those two teams remain ahead of the Stars, but that gap has been cut to six and three, respectively, as the Stars have gone 9-2-1 since Dec. 14.

“We lost a lot of ground early,” DeBoer said Friday. “We didn’t have a great start to the season. We started slow, and we’re just starting to hit our stride and our rhythm now.”

The winning streak has come even after the Stars lost forward Mason Marchment to facial fractures late last month. The forward, who has 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 33 games, is not expected back until the end of this month.

However, with Marchment sidelined, other Dallas players have stepped up their games. Jason Robertson, who is second in points with 34 points, has scored 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in his past 12 games. Wyatt Johnston, the Stars’ third-leading scorer with 30 points, has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in the past 11 games.

–Field Level Media