The Montreal Canadiens host a surging New York Islanders team that has been busy making statements lately tonight. Montreal (27-13-3) is in a 1-2-1 stretch after winning nine of 10 and is coming off Thursdays 4-1 loss at Ottawa. Max Pacioretty was again a bright spot, scoring a goal in a sixth straight game with seven total in that span. Hes bidding to become the first Canadien with goals in seven consecutive contests since Denis Savards nine-game run from Feb. 7-March 1, 1991. Pacioretty was held without a point in last months win over the Islanders, but has eight goals and three assists in his past 12 matchups. Montreal coach Michel Therrien will want to see a more complete effort from his team after seven forwards failed to even register a shot Thursday. We need contributions from more than one line, Therrien said. Right now, we only have contributions from one line and thats not good enough. After Pacioretty, Montreals most effective player lately has been goaltender Carey Price, who has a 1.67 goals-against average in his last 12 starts. However, Price did not face the Senators and could sit out again with an upper-body injury. Joey MacDonald was called up from Hamilton of the AHL on Friday, likely to back up Dustin Tokarski. Former Canadien Jaroslav Halak stopped 21 shots against the Penguins and tied Anaheims Frederik Andersen for second in the league with 24 wins. Chad Johnson, though, could get the start in the second half of this back-to-back. The Canadiens have won four of five against the Islanders and are 8-1-4 in the last 13 meetings at the Bell Centre. Just reaching the playoffs wouldve been a good way to send out Nassau Coliseum in the Islanders last season there before moving to Brooklyn, but the team seems intent on doing much more. With the midpoint of the season having just passed, the Islanders (30-13-1) find themselves in very unfamiliar territory. They lead the East by one point over Tampa Bay and their 30 wins are tied for the most in the NHL. Were in first place now, but that can change real quick, captain John Tavares said. All these wins are big wins, but youve got to go out there and continue that. After road victories over New Jersey and Columbus on back-to-back nights, the Islanders headed to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday to face a Rangers team that had won 13 of 14. All the Islanders did in that game was post a 3-0 shutout and register 44 shots against a club that hadnt allowed more than 38 all season. Their latest victory was just as impressive. Entering the third period down one against Pittsburgh on Friday, the Islanders scored four goals - three from Kyle Okposo after he tallied in the first - and rallied for a 6-3 victory. Tavares had three assists to help New York open a three-point lead over the Penguins atop the Metropolitan Division. To score four is pretty special, said Okposo. The atmosphere - it was awesome out there. I havent really heard it that loud since we played these guys in the (2013) playoffs. The Islanders outshot an opponent for the 15th consecutive contest and lowered their league-best total to 26.8 shots allowed per game. Theyll now try to improve to 6-1-0 on the second game of back-to-backs and avenge a 3-1 home loss to the Canadiens on Dec. 23. Boston Celtics Store . -- Two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana agreed Tuesday to a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles as he tries to come back from the second major operation on his left shoulder. Boston Celtics Pro Shop . Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was also taken to three sets but emerged with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke of Germany, while second-seeded David Ferrer joined Murray in making an early exit after a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Daniel Brands of Germany. https://www.cheapceltics.com/. Strasburg (1-1) got 14 consecutive outs in one stretch and allowed only three hits, including Marcell Ozunas homer in the seventh. The right-handers lone walk was to the last batter he faced. Washingtons starter Wednesday, Jordan Zimmermann, left after a career-low 1 2-3 innings, leaving the bullpen "taxed," as manager Matt Williams put it. Custom Boston Celtics Jerseys .ca. Hello Kerry, After watching Nino Niederreiter clobber Alex Burrows with an open-ice hit on Wednesday, do you think he should have gotten more than the two minutes for interference. Celtics Jerseys China . Tepesch, back from the minor leagues, earned his first major league victory in more than 10 months and the Rangers edged the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Wednesday.Johnny Manziel has received some fairly high praise early in his time with the Cleveland Browns. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan likened Manziels skill set to Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III, according to a report in USA Today. “Johnny and Robert are very similar,” Shanahan, who was Griffins offensive coordinator with the Washington Redskkins the past two seasons, told USA Today.dddddddddddd “Theyre both talented guys who can make plays with their legs.” Griffin had a very successful rookie season under Shanahan before injuries slowed his progress last season. After receiving flak for partying in Las Vegas recently, its some nice news for the Browns highly-scrutinized rookie QB. ' ' '