Here are five thing you should know when the Canadiens (11-10-6) face the New York Islanders (18-5-2) Tuesday night at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) .
The Habs goalies: Carey Price is expected to start in goal, but will have a new backup after the Canadiens called up Cayden Primeau from the AHL’s Laval Rocket on Monday and placed Keith Kinkaid on NHL waivers. Price has struggled in the second season of his eight-year, US$84-million contract, with a 10-9-3 record, a 3.18 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage. The Canadiens will be looking to end an eight-game losing streak (0-5-3). It’s the Canadiens’ longest losing streak since having nine consecutive losses from Dec. 16, 1939-Jan. 6, 1940. The longest losing streak in franchise history is 12 games, from Feb. 13-March 13, 1926.
Armia on a roll: Joel Armia has scored a goal in each of the Canadiens’ last three games and is now tied with Brendan Gallagher for the team lead with 10 goals despite missing two games. Armia, who was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round (16th overall) at the 2011 NHL Draft, set a career high with the Canadiens last season when he scored 13 goals. Tomas Tatar leads the Canadiens in scoring with 9-15-24 totals, followed by captain Shea Weber with 8-13-21. After scoring a career-high 28 goals last season, Max Domi has only six this season, including two in the last 14 games.
The Islanders goalies: The Islanders became the first team since the 2006-07 San Jose Sharks to alternate starting goalies for each of the first 24 games of the season with Semyon Varlamov and Thomas Greiss. Varlamov started Monday night and made 30 saves in a 4-1 win over the Red Wings in Detroit, improving his record to 8-3-2 record with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage, while Greiss is 10-2-0 with a 2.10 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage. Varlamov ($5 million) and Greiss ($3.333 million) have a combined salary-cap hit of $8.333 million, more than $2 million less than Price’s $10.5-million cap hit.
Three goals the key: After Monday night’s victory, the Islanders have a 15-0-1 record when scoring at least three goals in a game and are 2-5-1 when they don’t. Since Barry Trotz took over as head coach after leading the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup in 2018, the Islanders are 53-2-3 in games in which they scored three or more goals.
Mathew Barzal: Not surprisingly, Barzal is leading the Islanders in scoring with 10-13-23 totals and also had a team-best plus-13 rating. The 22-year-old centre won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 2017-18 when he posted 22-63-85 totals and also led the Islanders in scoring last season with 18-44-62 totals. He has played in every Islanders game since the start of the 2017-18 season. The Islanders selected him in the first round (16th overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft.
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