Canadiens Vs. Stars : Steve Bégin Welcomes His Former Team

Carey Price will get his third straight start tonight when the Montreal Canadiens pay a visit to the Dallas Stars.

Price has lost his last two starts, despite a good performance Friday night in a 2-0 loss to Atlanta.

The game also marks the Canadiens' first encounter with former teammate Steve Bégin, who was traded to the Stars just before the trade deadline.

Bégin, who is known more as a physical and defensive forward, has yet to register a point in five games with the Stars.

After finding himself a healthy scratch for the Canadiens of most of the season, he is averaging ten minutes of ice time since joining Dallas.

Another ex-Canadien, Mike Ribeiro, leads Dallas in scoring with 61 points and is on a three-game points scoring streak.

The Canadiens have not had much luck in Big-D. Montreal has gone four losses and one tie since March 4, 1998, scoring just five goals.

Marty Turco has much to do with that slump, owning two of those victories and the tie with a 0.97 GAA.

Canadiens' coach Guy Carbonneau has made yet a few more line changes for tonight's game.

Rookie Max Pacioretty will play with Alex Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec while Andre Kostitsyn moves on Captain Saku Koivu's line, along with Alex Tanguay.

Kostitsyn leads the Canadiens with 22 goals, but is pointless in his last six games while his linemates have had better success as of late.

“There are some players who go into a slump and there are some players who raise their games, so I have to adjust accordingly,”  said Carbonneau, who is known to make line changes on a regular basis.

“They (Kovlaev-Plekanec-Kostitsyn) were our best line last season, but for whatever reason, the chemistry hasn’t been there,” Carbonneau also added.

Kostitsyn only has nine points in 36 games where he has played with Kovalev this season.

Pacioretty has been learning his defensive game alongside Maxim Lapierre and Tom Kostopoulos, and looks not to disappoint his coach's decision.

“I feel like the coach has confidence in me,” Pacioretty said today. “I started out playing on a checking line, but I’ve worked on developing my defensive game. When I started out, I was minus-5, but I’ve improved (now -1) and I’m more of a two-way player.”

Defenceman Patrice Brisebois, who sits at 999 career games, will be a healthy scratch again tonight for the Canadiens.

Mathieu Dandineault, who started Friday night as a forward and finished on defence, is a last-minute healthy scratch.