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(AP) The Montreal Canadiens will try to win consecutive games for the first time in over two months as they host the Washington Capitals at the Molson Centre.
Despite earning a point in eight of their last 10 games (5-2-2-1), the Canadiens have failed in 12 previous tries to win back-to-back games since Oct. 20-23.

“It’s obviously going to be nice the day that we get a couple of wins together, but you have to also realize that the ties we got on the road were pretty big,” said Canadiens center Joe Juneau said.

“It wasn’t three wins, but it was points in every game.”

Montreal is riding a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) following Saturday’s 5-1 win over Atlanta, which kicked off a four-game homestand.

 
“With a few home games coming up, it was important to build some momentum,” Montreal coach Claude Julien said.

The Canadiens, who are three games above .500 for the first time since Oct. 23, have won three straight at home, outscoring opponents 14-6 in those games.

Richard Zednik and Juneau each had a goal and an assist Saturday, and Jan Bulis, Mike Ribeiro and Niklas Sundstrom also scored for the Canadiens.

Montreal captain Saku Koivu added an assist in his return to the lineup after missing a 1-1 tie in Dallas on Wednesday with a mild concussion.

The Capitals dropped the opener of a two-game road trip, losing 5-2 at Ottawa on Saturday. Jeff Halpern and Robert Lang scored for Washington, which fell to 0-4-1 since getting the 999th win in team history on December 23.

Game Info: 5:00 pm EST Sun Jan 4, 2004
 TV: CTV, RDS

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