All Habs GameDay: Saturday January 21, 2012
On this day in hockey history… 1907 – Kenora Thistles won their only Stanley Cup Championship, when they defeated the Montreal Wanderers 8-6 at Montreal.
GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!
MONTREAL CANADIENS (17-21-9) vs. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (23-18-5)
Last 10: Toronto 5-4-1; Montreal 3-5-2
Air Canada Centre, 7:00 p.m. EST
TV: RDS, CBC, NHLN-US
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
Petteri Nokelainen – Scott Gomez – Mathieu Darche
Defenseman
Josh Gorges – Hal Gill
Chris Campoli – P.K. Subban
Tomas Kaberle – Alexei Emelin
Goaltenders
Carey Price (confirmed) – Peter Budaj
Scratches
Yannick Weber – Raphael Diaz
Injuries
Ryan White – Andrei Markov – Brian Gionta
Power-play
Pacioretty – Desharnais – Cole – Kaberle – Subban
Bourque – Plekanec – Gomez – Gorges – Weber
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Forwards
Matthew Lombardi – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur – Mikhail Grabovski – Nikolai Kulemin
Joffrey Lupul – Tim Connolly – Nazem Kadri
Joey Crabb – David Steckel – Mike Brown
Defensemen
Dion Phaneuf – Luke Schenn
Carl Gunnarsson – Mike Komisarek
Jake Gardiner – Cody Franson
Goaltenders
James Reimer – Jonas Gustavsson (confirmed)
Scratches
Injuries
John-Michael Liles – Colby Armstrong – Darryl Boyce
GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines
► Let’s swap coaches: It’s the silly season in the NHL where the airwaves and internet fill with rumours as we approach the trade deadline. How about a one-for-one deal: Randy Cunneyworth for Guy Boucher? Sounds good says the Hockey News’ Tim Campbell to a proposal from Mike Brophy.
“Cunneyworth has been placed in a complete no-win situation in Montreal by a management and ownership that has refused to stand by their choice, simply because he doesn’t speak French. After one wildly successful season, Boucher appears to have lost the Lightning, a team that is far too offensively talented and front-loaded to play the type of defense-first game he wants it to play.” — Tim Campbell
Read more: Why the Lightning and Canadiens should trade coaches
► Kaberle returns to ACC: Mike Komisarek, Mikhail Grabovski and Tomas Kaberle will be facing their former teams tonight as the Canadiens meet the Leafs at the Air Canada Centre.
“Teams that play back to back sometimes come in and play better on the second night, so we are expecting a really big push from them. We know they have a lot of speed, and they added (Rene) Bourque, who brings a little more size. They’re a good team that maybe has not got the results they wanted, but we respect them. It’s going to be a big test.” — Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf
Read more: Kaberle returns
► New at All Habs Hockey Magazine:
Video: Subban Takes Down Kunitz
Spacek Speaks Out About Mess in Montreal
Video: Jon Stewart Takes on the Bruins
► Puck’s take: Need to know who will win tonight? @PucktheBunny has his prediction here. His record is an impressive 11-4-3.
► Cooking with the Canadiens: Angela Weber says that Carey Price is “so picky” when it comes to food. She was on hand for the launch of the book “Cooking with the Canadiens” a fundraising project for the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation.
(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)