The Montreal Canadiens (36-15-4) will be aiming to hold onto the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a third straight over the vastly-improved Red Wings (31-13-10) in Detroit Monday evening at 7:30 p.m.

The Conference-fourth Wings have 13 points more than they did after 54 games last season, when they were in 10th place.

The Canadiens edged Detroit 2-1 in OT in Montreal on October 21 with the help of a great effort from goaltender Carey Price and beat them again 4-1 on November 16 in Detroit in front of Dustin Tokarski.

The Habs - who have taken nine out of a possible 10 points in their last five games - beat Jimmy Howard on both occasions, as the Red Wings backstop now sports a record of 16-7-8 with a .919 save percentage and a 2.14 goals against average.

Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, who will likely get the nod Monday, is 31-11-2 with a .934 save percentage and 1.98 GAA.

The Habs' defence hope to be well-rested after P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov were forced to play well over 30 minutes after Sergei Gonchar was hit from behind by Leafs’ forward David Clarkson, who was ejected, but only after his defence partner Nathan Beaulieu fought him, and earned a lengthy stay in the penalty box.

Sergei Gonchar will likely be replaced by Tom Gilbert but the Habs called up defenceman Greg Pateryn from Hamilton to make up for the loss of Gonchar. Pateryn has 13 points in 49 games in Hamilton this season.

Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais scored in the shootout as the Montreal Canadiens downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday night.

Brendan Gallagher scored in regulation time for Montreal (36-15-4), which has points in five straight games, while Carey Price made 28 saves.

Daniel Winnik scored for Toronto (23-29-5), which is 0-11-2 in its last 13 road games. Jonathan Bernier stopped 31-of-32 shots through regulation and extra time.

The Leafs took a first period lead for the first time in seven games when Winnik was left alone in the right circle to beat Price at 11:19.

Toronto's advantage lasted only 41 seconds, as the Canadiens tied it on a power play at 12:00 when Gallagher reached into the crease to put in Tomas Plekanec's pass.

The Canadiens lost defenceman Sergei Gonchar at 1:01 of the first after a hit into the end boards by David Clarkson, who got a major for interference, a game misconduct and a fighting major when he was challenged by Nathan Beaulieu. Gonchar suffered an upper-body injury and did not return. He is listed as day-to-day.

-With a file from The Canadian Press