game since missing 23 after taking a puck to the face

It’s not a spot predicted by many for the Montreal Canadiens or the Washington Capitals before the season Youth Matt Nieto Jersey , but here they are heading into their game at Bell Centre on Monday, fighting for the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference at the quarter point of the NHL season.Not much was expected of the Canadiens after they finished 14th in the Eastern Conference last season, made drastic changes to their lineup and are missing top defensemen Shea Weber (offseason foot surgery) to start the season. With a record of 11-6-3 and coming off a Western Canada road trip in which they won four of six points, the Canadiens are one of the early pleasant surprises of the season.The Washington Capitals, on the other hand, are coming off the first Stanley Cup in franchise history and have gotten off to a slow start under coach Todd Reirden, who replaced Barry Trotz, with a record of 9-7-3.Article continues below ...The Capitals are wrapping up a four-game road trip and are 2-1 in the first three games. The Capitals don’t have good memories of their last visit to Montreal on Nov. 1. They were up 4-3 with four minutes to go in the game and lost in regulation.The Capitals are without No. 1 goaltender Braden Holtby, who was injured Wednesday (upper body) while preparing to play the Winnipeg Jets that night. Holtby skated in Montreal on Sunday, but his status for Monday is not known. Pheonix Copley Mikko Rantanen Jersey , the 26-year-old native of North Pole, AK, has stepped in and done a good job: He’s given up two goals a game in each of his past four starts and is 3-1-0.“Holtby was back on the ice today, which was good to see,”Washington coach Todd Reirden told the team’s website after the Capitals practiced Sunday. “So we’ll continue to evaluate that, even later (Sunday) afternoon.“It was good,” Holtby told Washingtoncapitals.com. “Obviously it was nice to be back out on the ice and start feeling some shots and work some things out. It felt good.”Capitals key forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie were both injured against Winnipeg and missed Washington’s 3-2 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday. They are day-to-day with upper-body injuries.The Canadiens lost the first game of their road trip in Edmonton to the Oilers and bounced back with wins against the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks.After failing to score on the power play in their previous four games, the Canadiens got the winner with the man advantage from Jonathan Drouin. Goaltender Carey Price, after a rocky stretch in which he went 1-3-1 with an .854 save percentage and did not start the road trip in Edmonton, bounced back with 43 saves against Calgary and 35 against Vancouver.“A big character win for us to come back Nathan MacKinnon Jersey ,” Price told NHL.com. “It’s good to get a couple bounce-back games after Edmonton and make it a successful road trip.”“We all knew he hadn’t been playing his best when we gave him that little bit of a break, but now he’s back to being Carey, that’s the difference,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien told NHL.com. “He’s calm, he’s making saves. Sometimes a little step backwards and time to refocus is not a bad thing. These goalies play under pressure every game.”Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar, who came to the team as part of one of those big trades that sent captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights, scored his sixth goal in his past six games Saturday against the Canucks.Forward Max Domi, obtained from the Phoenix Coyotes for forward Alex Galchenyuk, is riding a nine-game point streak in which he has 13 points (five goals, eight assists). ANAHEIM Authentic Alexander Wennberg Jersey , Calif. (AP) — Edmonton goaltender Cam Talbot knew he needed to be sharp early if the Oilers were going to bounce back Sunday against the skidding Anaheim Ducks.Talbot made a couple of key saves in the first period that gave his team momentum on the way to a 4-0 victory.It was a strong bounce-back win for the Oilers, who lost 4-0 to Los Angeles on Saturday night. They scored three goals in the opening period for the second time this season and controlled action on both ends of the ice despite being outshot 39-24.Leading the way was Talbot, who made 39 saves for his first shutout this season and the 20th of his NHL career.“I had to come up with a few big saves early and that gets the confidence going. I was just trying to weather the storm until we got going,” Talbot said. “We got the big goal early, never really looked back from there and just kept piling them on.”It was Edmonton’s fourth shutout this season and first against Anaheim since Jan. 25, 2017. The Ducks, blanked for the third time, have lost eight straight overall after winning four in a row and nine of 10.Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — who both had five-game point streaks snapped against the Kings — got back on track with goals. McDavid, tied for fourth in the NHL scoring race with 62 points, has five goals and eight assists in his last seven games. Draisaitl Los Angeles Kings T-Shirts Womens , who is tied for ninth with 52 points, has seven goals in the past seven games.Jesse Puljujarvi and Kyle Brodziak also scored. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Caleb Jones each had two assists.It was just Edmonton’s second win in nine games but both have come during a four-game road trip, which concludes on Tuesday in San Jose.“It was a huge win. We are now on a good road trip and can turn it into a great one,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We went into the red zone and attacked more. We scored three goals because of the loose garbage we were able to pick up.”John Gibson made 20 saves for the Ducks, who are 0-2-2 during a six-game homestand — their longest of the season.“When you’re in a funk and in frustration mode, it’s the hardest thing in the world when you work and don’t get results and they score. That’s how it felt tonight,” captain Ryan Getzlaf said.The Oilers opened the scoring at 7:37 of the first period when McDavid finally was able to get the puck under Gibson’s blocker on his third attempt from in front for his 24th goal of the season. A no-look backhand from the slot by Puljujarvi at 16:05 and a short-handed goal by Brodziak with 11 seconds remaining marked the first time since Jan. 21, 2017, at Calgary that the Oilers have led by three or more on the road at the end of 20 minutes.It was the third time this season Anaheim had allowed three goals in the first period but it was the first time it trailed by three or more in the period since Feb. 3 last season at Montreal.Draisaitl scored his 23rd at 7:25 of the second when he corralled a shot by Jones that was blocked by Anaheim’s Ondrej Kase and fired a wrist shot past Gibson to make it 4-0.NOTES: Anaheim D Cam Fowler played in his first game since missing 23 after taking a puck to the face Nov. 12 against Nashville. The puck ended up breaking Fowler’s right orbital bone, right cheekbone and right jaw bone Sam Reinhart Jersey , requiring surgery. … Edmonton D Kris Russell returned to the lineup after missing 10 games due to a groin injury. … Brodziak has four short-handed goals since the start of last season. … Anaheim executive vice president/general manager Bob Murray became the fifth person in NHL history to both play and serve 1,000 games as a GM. He joined Bobby Clarke, Bob Gainey, Bob Pulford and Doug Wilson.UP NEXTOilers: Play at San Jose on Tuesday.Ducks: Host Ottawa on Wednesday.