Could the Canadiens start a winning streak?

There aren't many teams behind the Montreal Canadiens in the standings right now, but tonight's hosts, the Philadelphia Flyers, are. Both teams have played eight games so far this season, but the Habs have three wins and the Broad Street Bullies have two.

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Nevertheless, both clubs showed great performances yesterday. The Canadiens improved their defensive play and posted a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues, while the Flyers scored seven goals in a 7-5 win over the Minnesota Wild.

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The last time the two teams met in a regular season, Juraj Slafkovsky scored his first career hat trick, but the big Slovakian will not play tonight due to an upper body injury. Josh Anderson could also miss the tilt after blocking a hard shot with the inside of his skate last night. There is no official word yet on his status, but the Canadiens have recalled Lucas Condotta from the Laval Rocket.

Tonight is the first time the Canadiens will face the Flyers' new Russian sensation, Matvei Michkov, and we should hear and read a lot about how the Canadiens passed the veteran forward today. However, Philadelphia fans quickly forget how the Habs signed Cole Caufield since the Pennsylvania team chose Cam York, so keep that in mind, Montreal fans.

Michkov's nine points in eight games leads all rookies in the league so far, but since he has a minus-five rating, he's also been on the ice for a lot of goals conceded. Meanwhile, last night Lane Hutson became the first rookie blueliner in Canadiens history to record seven assists in his first 10 games. The rearguard sits fourth in the rookie standings this season with five points in eight games, but like Michkov, he has conceded plenty of goals and posted a minus-three rating.

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Tonight will be the 209th game between the two teams, and the Canadiens have the edge overall with a record of 96-75-30-7, but when it comes to games played in Philadelphia, the Habs have the edge with 41 a defeat record -42-16-4. The Canadiens have won seven of the last 10 meetings against John Tortorella's men, including the last two.

Cayden Primeau will guard the Canadiens' goal while the Flyers have not yet confirmed who their starting goaltender will be, but given that Samuel Ersson played last night, it would make sense that Ivan Fedotov would get the nod.

Primeau has played four games against the Flyers in his career and has a 2-1-1 record against them with a goals-against average of 1.69 and a save percentage of .948. Meanwhile, in a game against the Habs, Fedotov conceded four goals on 13 shots, giving him a GAA of 8.79 and an SP of .692. As for Ersson, he has played three games against the Canadiens and has a 1-2-0 record with a 3.47 GAA and .824 SP.

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Flyers captain Sean Couturier, who scored his 500th NHL point last night, is the Flyers' best player against the Canadiens with 20 points in 31 games. Right winger Owen Tippett is a point-per-game player with nine points in nine games against the Habs. Left winger Travis Konecny ​​​​scored 12 points in 17 games against Montreal and currently leads the Flyers with nine points in eight games (same as his linemate Michkov).

On the Canadiens' side, Cole Caufield (who has been red-hot so far this season) has seven points in as many games against the Flyers, while Nick Suzuki has 10 points in 12 games. As for Brendan Gallagher, he played 29 times against the Flyers and had 22 points.

Understandably, only extras will be skating at the Wells Fargo Center this morning and select players will meet with the media around noon. Today's game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the Canadiens will return to Montreal after the game where they will host the Kraken at the Bell Center on Tuesday night.

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