All Habs GameDay: Saturday October 29, 2011

On this day in hockey history…  1969 – Jean Beliveau became the first player in Montreal history to play 1,000 NHL games, when he appeared in a 4-1 Canadiens’ loss to the North Stars at Minnesota.

BOSTON BRUINS vs MONTREAL CANADIENS

Bell Centre  7:00 p.m.  TV: RDS, CBC

►Canadiens hockey tonight!

Projected line combinations:

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Forwards
Max Pacioretty – Tomas Plekanec – Brian Gionta
Mike Cammalleri – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Andrei Kostitsyn – Lars Eller – Travis Moen
Mathieu Darche – Petteri Nokelainen – Michael Blunden

Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Raphael Diaz
Jaroslav Spacek – Yannick Weber

Goaltenders
Carey Price – Peter Budaj

Scratches

Alexei Yemelin

BOSTON BRUINS

Forwards
Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Tyler Seguin
Jordan Caron – Chris Kelly – Rich Peverley
Daniel Paille – Gregory Campbell – Shawn Thornton

Defensemen
Zdeno Chara – Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg – Joe Corvo
Andrew Ference – Adam McQuaid

Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask – Tim Thomas

Benoit Pouliot did not make the trip to Montreal due to being “sick.” Jordan Caron will take his place in the line-up.

►Injury update:  Andrei Markov has returned to Montreal from Florida. Don’t expect to see Markov in the Canadiens line-up any time soon — he has been off skates since he left Montreal..  He will resume skating on his own for now.

Chris Campoli – hamstring tear
Scott Gomez – upper-body
Andrei Markov –  knee
Ryan White – sports hernia

► Habs – B’s preview : We have a look back at the Canadiens success over the past two games and what that might mean for tonight’s game.  Reader discretion is advised as the piece is accompanied by a disturbing photo of your typical Bruins fan.

Read more: Preview: The Bruins are Back! 

► Sophomore slump : P.K. Subban is struggling early in his second year in the NHL. Subban has just three assists and is a team worst minus-3 in the first ten games of the season.

“This year, I’m coming in with expectations, next year, they’ll be bigger expectations, and they’ll be bigger the year after that. I’m just playing the game, man.  I’m going to make mistakes and people are going to get on me for them, but I don’t care, I’m just trying to get better.” — P.K. Subban

Sean Gordon looks at a number of sophomore players including Subban, Cam Fowler and John Carlson.

Read more: NHL blueliners battle sophomore slump blues

► Curbing a habit : Our friend Arpon Basu from CTV Montreal is closing his blog The Daily Hab-it, an insightful look into the Montreal Canadiens.  Basu added his voice to our pre-season coverage here and here.  Basu is moving on to take over the reins of LNH.com

Read his last post here: Adieu