All Habs GameDay: Thursday December 8, 2011
On this day in hockey history… 1995 – Montreal named Pierre Turgeon as their new team captain, replacing Mike Keane (who had been traded). Turgeon became the 22nd captain in Montreal Canadiens’ history.
GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!
Last 10: Vancouver 8-2-0; Montreal 3-4-3
Bell Centre, 7:30 p.m. EST
TV: RDS, TSN-HABS
Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)
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 – Louis Leblanc
Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Frederic St. Denis
Alexei Emelin – Raphael Diaz
Goaltenders
Carey Price (will start) – Peter Budaj
Scratches
Yannick Weber
Injuries
Scott Gomez – Jaroslav Spacek – Chris Campoli – Ryan White – Andrei Markov
Power-play
Cammalleri – Desharnais – Cole – Gorges – Subban
Kostitsyn – Plekanec – Gionta – St. Denis – Diaz
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Forwards
Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Alexandre Burrows
Mason Raymond – Ryan Kesler – Jannik Hansen
Bill Sweatt – Cody Hodgson – Maxim Lapierre
Andrew Alberts – Manny Malhotra – Dale Weise
Defensemen
Dan Hamhuis – Kevin Bieksa
Alex Edler – Sami Salo
Keith Ballard – Aaron Rome
Goaltenders
Roberto Luongo (will start) – Cory Schneider
Scratches
Injuries
Chris Higgins – David Booth – Aaron Volpatti – Steve Pinizzotto – Byron Bitz – Alexander Sulzer
GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines
► Are the winds of change blowing? After 28 games, the Montreal Canadiens are on a point-a-game pace with 28 points, good enough for 11th place in the Eastern Conference. The most optimistic will tell you that puts the Habs only one point out of a playoff position. But Montreal has lost five of their last six games, and it is obvious that the team is vastly underperforming.
Over at the Fourth Period, they are reporting that Canadiens owner Geoff Molson has been in discussions with consultant Bob Gainey about his options, one of which would include sweeping aside head coach Jacques Martin and general manager Pierre Gauthier.
“According to three separate sources close to the team, some members of the Habs feel Martin’s system is too restrictive. “They’re not responding (to the coach),” one source said, “and it’s affective their play.”” — TheFourthPeriod.com
Read more: Canadiens considering shakeup?