The Montreal Canadiens (41-17-5) take their west coast road trip to southern California Wednesday night when they face off against the Anaheim Ducks (40-17-7). The game starts at 10:00 and airs on RDS and Sportsnet East.

Match Up

This is the second and final meeting this year between the Habs and the Ducks, at least their final regular season meeting. When these teams met in Montreal on December 18, the Canadiens celebrated former captain Saku Koivu but could not manage a victory, ultimately losing 2-1.

What to Watch

Canadiens: The Canadiens should have their full contingent of newcomers ready for Wednesday’s game. Since the start of the season, the Habs have added Sergei Gonchar, Devante Smith-Pelly, Jeff Petry, Brian Flynn and Torrey Mitchell to their NHL roster, not to mention Hamilton call up Jacob De La Rose.

Ducks: The Ducks have plenty of new faces of their own on the roster, including former Canadien James Wisniewski, and even more recent Hab, Jiri Sekac. Sekac has already picked up two assists and eight shots in four games with the Ducks, he had 16 points and 54 shots in 50 games with the Habs.

What’s at Stake

Don’t look now, but with 87 points in 63 games, the Habs lead the league in terms of points percentage. The Canadiens are two points back and have two games in hand on both of the current NHL leaders, a pair of teams that includes their Wednesday night opponents, the Anaheim Ducks. While the playoff implications aren’t necessarily the same as when the Habs play divisional rivals, Wednesday’s match is still a four-point game in terms of the Presidents’ Trophy race.

Who’s Out

The Habs are missing Alexei Emelin (shoulder) heading into Wednesday’s action but are otherwise healthy.

New pick up James Wisniewski (foot) won’t make his Ducks debut right away, he’s expected to miss the next week or two. Matt Belesky (shoulder), Sami Vatanan (lower body), Tim Jackman (lower body) and newcomer Korbinian Holzer (concussion) are also out.

What Else

With just two months left in the regular season, Carey Price is very close to a season sweep of the Molson Cup player of the month award, winning the award once again in February. Price was also named the NHL’s Second Star for the Month of February, while PK Subban picked up the Second Star of the Week for the week ending March 1.

The Question Mark

What Stanley Cup Finals match up would you most like to see this season?

As always, we’ll be going over your answers on the Montreal Hockey Talk Habs Pregame Show, starting an hour before each Canadiens game on montrealhockeytalk.com.