GameDay: Habs vs Leafs Lineups, Trade, Re-Match, Eller

Steve Farnham

12 years ago

All Habs GameDay: Wednesday February 27, 2013

On this day in hockey history… 1988 – Montreal Captain Bob Gainey scored the only hat trick of his 15 year NHL career to lead the Canadiens to a 6-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets at the Forum.

GAMEDAY: Welcome back, Ryder.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 12-8-0 7th in the East	MONTREAL CANADIENS 12-4-3 1st in the East

Home Record: 4-4-0 Goals For: 57 Goals against: 46 PP percentage: 16.7 (18th) PK percentage: 82.6 (15th)	Road Record: 4-1-2 Goals For: 53 Goals against: 41 PP percentage: 18.9 (10th) PK percentage: 82.7 (14th)
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON. 7:30 p.m. EST TV: RDS, TSN

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

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Habs will skate at 11:30 am. at the ACC.
Brendan Gallagher will now wear No. 11 allowing Michael Ryder to wear his familiar No. 73
Ryder arrived at the ACC. Missed the morning skate to complete his physical. Michel Therrien confirms that Ryder will be in the lineup vs the Leafs but coy about his linemates.
Raphael Diaz is out with a concussion, Tomas Kaberle will replace him.

Forwards

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

Defensemen

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

Scratches

Rene Bourque (concussion), Raphael Diaz (concussion), Yannick Weber (healthy scratch)

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

James Reimer was re-activated but Ben Scrivens will start.

Forwards

James van Riemsdyk – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin – Mikhail Grabovski – Leo Komarov
Clarke MacArthur – Nazem Kadri – Colton Orr
Frazer McLaren – Jay McClement – Mike Brown

Defensemen

Dion Phaneuf – Korbinian Holzer
Carl Gunnarsson – Mike Kostka
Cody Franson – Mark Fraser

Scratches

Joffrey Lupul, Matt Frattin, Mike Komisarek, John-Michael Liles, David Steckel

TOP SCORERS

MAPLE LEAFS		CANADIENS
Nazem Kadri	Nazem Kadri: 5G, 12A Phil Kessel: 4G, 12A James Van Riemsdyk: 11G, 4A	Max Pacioretty	Max Pacioretty: 4G, 10A Michael Ryder: 6G, 8A Tomas Plekanec: 8G, 5A

PROJECTED GOALTENDERS
(Updated following game day skate.)

11:08 am. Ben Scrivens will start for the Maple Leafs (via CBC.)
Carey Price will start for the Canadiens.

MAPLE LEAFS		CANADIENS
Ben Scrivens CONFIRMED	Record: 6-5-0 (20th in wins) GAA : 2.47 (20th) Sv%: .928 (9th) SO: 2 (3rd) EV GA/60: 1.95 (17th)	Carey Price CONFIRMED	Record: 10-3-2 (tied for 1st in wins) GAA : 1.90 (5th) Sv%: .925 (12th) SO: 2 (3rd) EV GA/60: 1.25 (3rd)

GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines

► Cole-in de bin!

The Montreal Canadiens surprised quite a few people this Tuesday when they traded away Erik Cole, last season’s leading goal-scorer for the Habs to the Dallas Stars.
In return, the Montreal Canadiens get ex-Montreal Canadien Michael Ryder as well as a third round pick.
Whether Ryder will produce more offensively than Cole would have had he not been traded, we’ll never know. One thing’s for certain however, the Stars have Cole for this season and he’s on the books for two more while Ryder’s contract comes to an end this season and he becomes an unrestricted free agent. That and it’s cheaper by a million buckaroos.
In other words, if Ryder plays well, the Habs can consider resigning him, otherwise, they can simply let him go at the end of the current season.
Before being traded to the Canadiens, Ryder was the Stars’ leading point-getter with six goals and eight assists, tied with Jamie Benn.
With 14 points on the season, Ryder is tied with Max Pacioretty for first in points among Canadiens’ players.

► Will the third time in fact be a charm?

The Montreal Canadiens will faceoff against the Toronto Maple Leafs for the third time this season, losing their previous two match-ups against their divisional rival.
The Canadiens had opened up the season against the Leafs at home, losing 2-1.
The following game between both teams had been slightly on the embarrassing side for the Canadiens. Back on February 9, the Canadiens easily suffered their worst loss of the season, going down 6-0 to the Leafs. This was the famous game where Colton Orr went after Tomas Plekanec’s knee and Mikhail Grabovski bit into Max Pacioretty’s arm.
The Canadiens will surely want to stick it back to the Leafs, and make this third time, a charm.
Side note, since the last game against the Leafs, the Canadiens have been on a 6-0-2 run, picking up 14 out of a possible 16 points in their last eight games.
Here’s what Josh Gorges and Colby Armstrong had to say with respect to the upcoming game against the Leafs.

Josh Gorges:

“We need two points. Yeah, we can look at it like we want revenge because we lost 6-0 but I think our focus has been and needs to continue to be on getting two points. Whatever happened yesterday or two weeks before doesn’t matter. We’ll approach tomorrow’s game as if it’s the most important game of the year and make sure we’re ready to go out and get two points.”

“This is maybe the most storied rivalry in hockey. When you have two teams that are good teams, it makes for exciting hockey. Any time you play the Leafs, the games are always hard-fought; they’re always tight. To have two teams that are playing well and are both good hockey clubs, it adds a little bit more. It makes it fun to play.

“Sometimes when you’re on the road, you forget about trying to be cute and making fancy plays and you just play a grind-it-out hockey game. We don’t need to impress anybody or hear the fans roaring; we just need to go out there and do whatever we have to do to win the game.”

Colby Armstrong:

“It was a stinker for us, especially at home,” offered former Leaf Colby Armstrong, who is back in town to face his old team for the first time since signing with the Habs this summer. “I think everyone knew they could be better and we could all be better as a team. That’s been our focus. Right now we’re playing a good team game from the goalies out. That’s how we have success: when everyone’s going. We just have to keep that same mindset no matter who we’re playing.”

► Eller improving at the faceoff circle:

Lars Eller improved his season average at the faceoff circle in his last game against the Ottawa Senators, going 12 for 17, 71 per cent on the night.
He now averages 51.5 per cent on the season, taking the third most draws on the team (171) after Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais, who are 49.9 per cent and 48.1 per cent respectively on the season.

► 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 Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins and New York Islanders upcoming, click the link to find the best selection of Montreal Canadiens tickets.

► New at All Habs Hockey Magazine and Hockey Pub:

(Feature Photo: John Morstad)

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