GameDay: Habs vs Islanders Lineups, Pacioretty, Tavares, Therrien

All Habs GameDay: Tuesday March 5, 2013

On this day in hockey history… 1967 – Montreal Canadiens’ rookie goaltender Rogie Vachon recorded the first shutout of his NHL career. Montreal beat the New York Rangers 2-0 at Madison Square Garden.

GAMEDAY: To Uniondale they go.

NEW  YORK ISLANDERS 9-11-2 11th in the East	MONTREAL CANADIENS 14-4-4 1st in the East
Home Record: 3-8-1 Goals For: 64 Goals against: 75 PP percentage: 22.1 (5th) PK percentage: 84.2 (10th)	Road Record: 6-1-2 Goals For: 68 Goals against: 53 PP percentage: 19.0 (11th) PK percentage: 82.6 (14th)
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY. 7:00 p.m. EST TV: RDS, MSG+2, Radio: WHRU

PROJECTED LINE COMBINATIONS
(Will be updated following game day skate.)

Plekanec, Prust, Ryder, Gionta, Bouillon and Kaberle chose to skip the optional game-day skate in Uniondale, NY.

Forwards

Brandon Prust – Tomas Plekanec – Michael Ryder
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk – Lars Eller – Brian Gionta
Travis Moen – Ryan White – Colby Armstrong

Defensemen

Andrei Markov – Alexei Emelin
Josh Gorges – Francis Bouillon
P.K. Subban – Tomas Kaberle

Goalies

Carey Price, Peter Budaj

Scratches

Rene Bourque (concussion), Raphael Diaz (concussion), Yannick Weber, Gabriel Dumont

No updates at this time.

Forwards

Matt Moulson – John Tavares – Brad Boyes
Josh Bailey – Frans Nielsen – Kyle Okposo
Michael Grabner – Marty Reasoner – David Ullstrom
Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Colin McDonald

Defensemen

Andrew MacDonald – Travis Hamonic
Joe Finley – Mark Streit
Thomas Hickey – Lubomir Visnovsky

Goalies

Evgeni Nabokov, Kevin Poulin

Scratches

Brian Strait, Keith Aucoin, Jesse Joensuu, Eric Boulton, Matt Carkner, Radek Martinek

TOP SCORERS

ISLANDERS		CANADIENS
John Tavares	John Tavares: 13G, 12A, 25PTS Matt Moulson: 10G, 14A, 24PTS Brad Boyes: 5G, 11A, 16PTS	Max Pacioretty	Max Pacioretty: 8G, 12A, 20PTS Michael Ryder: 6G, 9A, 15PTS David Desharnais 7G, 8A, 15PTS

 PROJECTED GOALTENDERS
(Updated following game day skate.)

No updates at this time.

ISLANDERS		CANADIENS
Evgeni Nabokov CONFIRMED	Record: 9-7-2 (tied for 6th in wins) GAA : 2.96 (34th) Sv%: .901 (30th) SO: 1 (tied for 11th) EV GA/60: 2.90 (40th)	Carey Price CONFIRMED	Record: 11-3-3 (Tied for 1st in wins) GAA : 2.20 (11th) Sv%: .915 (17th) SO: 2 (tied for 4th) EV GA/60: 1.63 (7th)

GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines

► Those difficult easy games: 

• Very often, you’ll look at a matchup on paper and it seems like there’s only one possible outcome.
• When you look at the Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Islanders matchup, it appears that if Montreal can simply keep Tavares and Moulson under control while staying out of the penalty box, Price can easily outplay Nabokov and guide the Canadiens to an easy win. If only it were so simple.
• In the previous matchup between both teams, the Canadiens blew a 3-1 lead and allowed the Islanders to run away with the victory in overtime. Two of the Islanders four goals in that game were scored by Moulson on the power play.
• Moral of the story? Paper and Ice are very different surfaces.

► Max Pacioretty, Exclamation Point, Exclamation Point, Exclamation Point (x2):

• Max Pacioretty again!!!
• Pacioretty picked up a goal and an assist on Sunday bringing his season total to 20 points (8G, 12A).
• Ten games ago, Pacioretty had no goals on the season but in his past nine games, he’s had eight goals and six assists for 14 points.

► John Tavares impressive.

• John Tavares has been having a great season so far with the Islanders.
• He currently ranks seventh overall in the league with 25 points, and is third when it comes to goals with 13. Only James Neal (14) of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Steven Stamkos (17) of the Tampa Bay Lightning have more goals.
• In the previous game against the Canadiens, he had obtained two assists including one on the game-winning goal by Thomas Hickey.

► Post-game quotes: Habs vs Bruins.

• Michel Therrien could have come out attacking Claude Julien for calling the Canadiens an embarrassment and team of divers, instead he chose a different approach.

“I’ve known Claude for a long time and I’ve been coaching teams against him for a long time too. To me, those comments that he made were ridiculous and I think he was very frustrated to have lost that game. Claude can concentrate on his team and I’ll concentrate on my own. Our goal is to play a style of game that we feel will best bring us success. That’s what’s really important for me. We need to be able to show up for every game and for us that means playing an aggressive style of hockey and controlling the match. The players have been paying a lot of attention to the details and they deserve a lot of credit.”

• Max Pacioretty didn’t shy away from sharing his feeling on the subject while rubbing in the fact that the Canadiens are now in first (and not the Bruins).

“Jealousy. We’re at the top right now and reading comments like that is awesome. If we’re in last place, they wouldn’t be saying anything about us, but we’re in first place and it’s the best feeling in the world.”

► 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 Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators upcoming, click the link to find the best selection of Montreal Canadiens tickets.

► New at All Habs Hockey Magazine and Hockey Pub:

• 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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