All Habs GameDay: Wednesday January 18, 2012
On this day in hockey history… 1967 – For the first time in NHL history the All-Star game was held at mid-season. The Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens beat the All Stars 3-0 at the Forum. John Ferguson scored twice for the Canadiens.
GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (24-18-2) vs. 
MONTREAL CANADIENS (17-20-8)
Last 10: New York 7-3-0; Montreal 4-5-1
Bell Centre, 7:30 p.m. EST
TV: RDS, TSN, CSN-MA
Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Forwards
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Travis Moen – Lars Eller – Andrei Kostitsyn
Rene Bourque – Tomas Plekanec – Mike Blunden
Mathieu Darche – Scott Gomez
Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Yannick Weber
Alexei Emelin – Raphael Diaz
Tomas Kaberle
Goaltenders
Carey Price (will start) – Peter Budaj
Scratches
Chris Campoli – Petteri Nokelainen
Injuries
Ryan White – Andrei Markov – Brian Gionta
Power-play
Pacioretty – Desharnais – Cole – Kaberle – Weber
Bourque – Gomez – Kostitsyn – Gorges – Subban
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Marcus Johansson – Alexander Semin
Mike Knuble – Brooks Laich – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Jeff Halpern – Joel Ward
Matt Hendricks – Cody Eakin – Jay Beagle
Defensemen
Karl Alzner – John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov – Dennis Wideman
Roman Hamrlik – Tomas Kundraek
Goaltenders
Tomas Vokoun (not yet confirmed) – Michal Neuvirth
Scratches
Injuries
Nicklas Backstrom – Tom Poti – Mike Green
GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines
► Molson endorses Gauthier: Montreal Canadiens President joined Twitter in the new year ( @GMolsonCHC ) but apparently isn’t listening to fans calling for the head of general manager Pierre Gauthier. On Tuesday, Molson reaffirmed his support for the seemingly desperate GM saying that Gauthier has carte blanche to make changes to improve the team.
“Pierre Gauthier is the general manager of the team. He is responsible to evaluate the team and he has my support. He and I are disappointed with the performance of the team and we will do everything to succeed in having a winning team this year and in years to come.” — Geoff Molson
Read more: G. Molson reitere son appui a Gauthier (in French)
► Jacques believes he was in control: Jacques Martin spoke about his firing with the L’antichambre crew on Tuesday night saying that “Suddenly, the rope is cut.” Indeed. Martin was the anchor dragging the team down — unfortunately Pierre Gauthier waited too long to sever the rope. It will take some time to turn the ship around but the team is playing closer to a style that matches its talents.
“As a coach, you want to win a Stanley Cup, you want to succeed with your team. And when you’re fired, you do not have the chance to continue what you had started. It was the most difficult for me.” — Jacques Martin
Martin contends that he was in full control when the firing occurred — this coming from a man who still maintains that he preaches a strong forechecking game and employs a puck possession system. As Martin makes the media circuit, he continues to place full blame on the Canadiens young players for this season’s poor record.
Read more: “Tout d’un coup, la corde est coupee…” (in French)
► Bourque expects heat: Earlier this month as a member of the Calgary Flames, Rene Bourque was suspended for five games for an elbow to the jaw of Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom. Bourque expects that the Caps have long memories.
► New at All Habs:
Habs on Life Support With 37 to Go
Attend a Hockey Party: Get the VIP Treatment!
Catching the Torch, Bournival Breaks Out
Pierre Gauthier: General Manager in Limbo
Who’s This Guy? — Rene Bourque
Gauthier’s Out-of-the-Box Approach is Caustic for Habs
► Puck’s take: Need to know who will win tonight? @PucktheBunny has his prediction here. His record is an amazing 11-3-2.
► Plante’s birthday: Former Canadiens goaltender would have turned 83 years old yesterday. Here’s a video about the player and the man from WatchMojo titled “Jacques Plante: A Game Changer.”
(Photo by REUTERS/Shaun Best)