All Habs GameDay: Thursday March 7, 2013
On this day in hockey history… 1975 – Guy Lafleur scored twice and added two assists to become the first 100 point scorer in Montreal Canadiens history.
GAMEDAY: Can the Habs stop the Canes in their tracks.
| CAROLINA HURRICANES 13-8-1 3rd in the East |
MONTREAL CANADIENS 14-5-4 1st in the East |
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Home Record: 6-4-0 |
Road Record: 6-2-2 Goals For: 71 Goals against: 59 PP percentage: 20.0 (10th) PK percentage: 81.3 (15th) |
| PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC. 7:00 p.m. EST TV: RDS, TSN-HABS |
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PROJECTED LINE COMBINATIONS
(Will be updated following game day skate.)
| MONTREAL CANADIENS |
Raphael Diaz has been placed on injured reserve status.
Yannick Weber will get a start tonight against the Canes. The decision to scratch Tomas Kaberle or ice 7 defenseman will be made closer to game-time.
Suffering from an intestinal infection, Michel Therrien skipped the game day skate. He is expected to be behind the bench tonight.
Tomas Kaberle is out of the lineup for the Canadiens.
Forwards
Michael Ryder – Tomas Plekanec – Brian Gionta
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk – Lars Eller – Brandon Prust
Travis Moen – Ryan White – Colby Armstrong
Defensemen
Andrei Markov – Alexei Emelin
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Francis Bouillon – Yannick Weber
Goalies
Carey Price, Peter Budaj
Scratches
Rene Bourque (concussion), Raphael Diaz (concussion), Gabriel Dumont, Petteri Nokelainen
| CAROLINA HURRICANES |
Forwards
Jiri Tlusty – Eric Staal – Alexander Semin
Jeff Skinner – Jordan Staal – Pat Dwyer
Drayson Bowman – Jussi Jokinen – Tim Wallace
Brett Sutter – Tim Brent – Kevin Westgarth
Defensemen
Jay Harrison – Justin Faulk
Tim Gleason – Joe Corvo
Bobby Sanguinetti – Jamie McBain
Goalies
Dan Ellis – Justin Peters
Scratches
Chad LaRose, Joni Pitkanen, Tuomo Ruutu, Cam Ward, Riley Nash
TOP SCORERS
| HURRICANES | CANADIENS | ||
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Eric Staal: 12G, 16A, 28PTS Alexander Semin: 6G, 17A, 23PTS Jiri Tlusty: 11G, 7A, 18PTS |
 Max Pacioretty |
Max Pacioretty: 8G, 12A, 20PTS Michael Ryder: 6G, 12A, 18PTS David Desharnais 7G, 8A, 15PTS Tomas Plekanec: 10G, 5A, 15PTS |
PROJECTED GOALTENDERS
(Updated following game day skate.)
Justin Peters will start in goal for Carolina as Dan Ellis continues to recover from the flu.
| HURRICANES | CANADIENS | ||
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Record: 1-0-0 GAA : 3.00 Sv%: .925 SO: 0 EV GA/60: n/a |
 Carey PriceCONFIRMED |
Record: 11-4-3 (Tied for 1st in wins) GAA : 2.35 (14th) Sv%: .908 (25th) SO: 2 (tied for 4th) EV GA/60: 1.79 (8th) |
GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines
► Let’s not panic:
- After the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders this past Tuesday, the blame game quickly start amongst some Habs fans because you know, when the Habs lose, it has to be somebody’s fault.
- Carey Price, you have been nominated.
- It was disappointing to see some tweets demanding that Price be traded, others saying the Canadiens would never win in the playoffs with Price.
- It appears some have a memory that doesn’t go as far back as the last game played.
- Let’s not panic, the Canadiens are in first place in the eastern conference and Price is tied for first place in wins, what more do you want?
► 700 for Bouillon:
- Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, Canadiens’ defenceman Francis Bouillon will play his 700th career game in the NHL.
- Honorable milestone for the five foot eight (yeah right) defenceman from New York city, who now tallies 29 goals and 110 assists for 139 points, including 2 goals and 7 assists in 41 playoffs games in his career.
► Gionta gets number 20,000.
- This past Tuesday against the Islanders, Brian Gionta also hit a personal milestone when he scored his seventh of the season, which also happened to be his fourth goal in as many games, when at the same time, he scored the 20,000th goal in the team’s history in the NHL.
- It was a bittersweet honour for Gionta following the loss to the Islanders and he had this to say.
“It’s always nice with the history of the organization when you get to be a part of it in that way, but we’re looking at today and this was a tough game for us. We did a lot to keep ourselves in it, but we can’t be giving out two goal leads. They’re a dangerous team that has a lot of offensive power that you need to be aware of and their power play is pretty good too. We got caught up kind of playing their game and not initiating enough, we took some penalties and let through some goals.”
► Post-game quotes: Habs vs Islanders.
- Michel Therrien remained positive following the team’s first regulation loss in twelve outings.
- Here’s what he had to say following the 6-3 loss to the Islanders.
“The guys all worked extremely hard to try and win this game. We managed to come back from two goals down to tie it. I liked the intensity we brought tonight. You have to be careful when you’re looking at penalties and indiscipline because sometimes penalties aren’t the player’s fault. There’s no way I could tell a player he wasn’t disciplined if I go back and look at the video and realize that he didn’t deserve the call. Sometimes the guys are just battling hard for the puck and end up with a penalty.”
“We can’t win them all, and we just went 11 games without losing in regulation. The guys played with intensity, they worked hard, the results just didn’t work out for us tonight.”
- Tomas Plekanec also shared his thoughts on the loss to the Islanders.
“I feel like we did a pretty good job tonight. When we came out in the second period we were kind of flat. We tried to put the puck on the net as much as we could, but we didn’t always get the bounces and that just happens sometimes. It’s never a good feeling when you lose a game, whether it’s at the end of a streak or not. A loss is a loss.”
► Puck’s take:
- Need to know who will win tonight? Click the link to watch Puck the Bunny’s prediction.
► Habs Tickets:
- With a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils upcoming, click the link to find the best selection of Montreal Canadiens tickets.
► New at All Habs Hockey Magazine and Hockey Pub:
- Catching the Torch: Archambault Attacks
- Tokarski, Tenute Lead Bulldogs Over Heat [with AUDIO]
- Les Islanders : la nouvelle bête noire du Canadien?
- Bruins Hypocrisy on Display [VIDEO]
- Danny Kristo: Committed to a Championship [VIDEO]
- Ode to Claude: The Ironing is Delicious [VIDEO]
- Official Release: Max Pacioretty named the first star of the week
- Zdeno Chara fights Alexei Emelin [VIDEO]
- Who’s Your Habs Stars for February?
- Habs Weekly Forecast: Pacioretty, Markov, Desharnais, Ryder
- All Habs Rewind: Habs Fight for Top Spot [VIDEO]
- State of the Habs, Part 5 – Games 17-20: And the Streak Goes On
- Up Close with Ken Dryden: From Goalie to Academic
- Official release: Carey Price earns Molson Cup honours for February
(Feature Photo: John Morstad)
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