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Canadiens try to avoid third straight loss

Feb 26, 2008 - 1:46 PM Atlanta (29-30-4) at Montreal (33-21-9) 7:30 pm EST

MONTREAL (Ticker) - The Montreal Canadiens have not been able to pick up a win since their historic five-goal comeback against the New York Rangers.

The Canadiens will hope to avoid their third consecutive defeat when they host the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday.

Montreal's top-ranked power-play unit went 0-for-6 in Saturday's 3-0 setback to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was the club's fourth shutout loss of the season and first since January 19.

Alexei Kovalev, who has a team-leading 29 goals and 63 points this season, will try to get the club back on track.

Before getting shutout the day before his 35th birthday, the Russian right wing had a five-game point streak going. He tallied four goals and five assists over that span.

The Thrashers are currently on a three-game slide and will likely trade All-Star Marian Hossa before Tuesday's game, possibly to the Canadiens. Hossa is second on the club with 26 goals and 56 points this season.

With Hossa virtually off the team at this point, Atlanta will have to depend even more on All-Star Ilya Kovalchuk. The 24-year-old has 40 goals on the campaign, but has failed to put one in the net over the past three games.