The Montreal Canadiens begin the second half of a six-game homestand Monday night when the rival Boston Bruins make their first visit of the season.
Montreal will look to build upon Saturday's 5-1 win over Ottawa. Cole Caufield scored a goal in his fourth straight game and Jake Allen made 29 saves.
The Canadiens are 9-3-2 in their last 14 games and have been held to fewer than three goals only once in that stretch since Feb. 17.
Martin St. Louis took over as interim coach on Feb. 9, and after Montreal lost its next three games, has been on a tear ever since.
"We're playing the right way and feeling good about ourselves," said Canadiens forward Josh Anderson, who contributed his 10th assist of the season Saturday.
"Pretty much ever since Marty came in, we've been paying attention to detail, watching a lot of video and learning a lot. ... He's brought a lot to the table and I think everyone's playing with swagger and confidence."
Allen earned his first win since Nov. 27. The goaltender, who was 0-7-2 in his previous nine starts, had returned from an injury Thursday after missing nearly a month.
Caufield has been a new man under St. Louis. He has scored 12 of his 13 goals on the season, including five in the past four games.
After Jake Evans scored the opening goal for the Canadiens, Montreal broke open a 1-1 game with three second-period tallies -- by Caufield, Paul Byron and Joel Armia. Brett Kulak added a third-period goal.
"The NHL is a very tough league to play in and if you don't have swagger it's really tough to win and to be productive," St. Louis said. "That's something you need to try to have every day and if you focus only on the results, it becomes easy to lose it."
Jonathan Drouin played in his first game since Jan. 20, returning from a wrist injury. Carey Price began "a new stage of his rehab" from offseason knee surgery by returning to morning practice.
The Bruins bounced back from a 4-2 loss in Minnesota by beating Winnipeg by the same score Friday. Boston improved to 11-2-1 in its last 14 games and lead the wild-card race while moving within reach of the Atlantic Division leaders.
Taylor Hall's power-play goal broke a 2-2 tie with 4:47 to play. Linus Ullmark made 27 saves.
Captain Patrice Bergeron will miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury. He is slated to be re-evaluated later in the week.
Charlie Coyle has four assists in the two games without Bergeron. Jack Studnicka is day-to-day due to soreness from blocking a shot. Bergeron and Studnicka didn't practice before the team departed for Montreal.
"I'll put (Bergeron) as a possibility for Thursday (against Tampa Bay), but that's not for sure," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said.
As a result, Massachusetts native Marc McLaughlin was recalled from Providence of the American Hockey League after concluding his career at Boston College last week.
Newly acquired defenseman Hampus Lindholm -- a former first-round draft pick of Anaheim -- likely will be available Thursday. His eight-year contract extension was made official Sunday.
"We're a better team today," Cassidy said. "He has a legitimate top-four resume, he's playoff-tested, still young. He'll play with either (Charlie) McAvoy or (Brandon) Carlo and probably both, to be honest, down the stretch. ... I think it's a great addition for us."
The Bruins won the two meetings with the Canadiens in Boston by a combined score of 10-3 this season. They will visit Montreal again next month.
In my defense it's late night and my two brain cells have ceased functioning for the day
