All Habs GameDay: Wednesday April 4, 2012
On this day in hockey history… 1971 – Jean Beliveau played his final regular season game, the 1,125th of his career, a 7-2 Montreal loss to Boston.
GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (37-35-7) vs. 
MONTREAL CANADIENS (29-35-15)
Last 10: Tampa Bay 5-5-0 ; Montreal 2-3-5
Bell Centre, 7:30 p.m. EST
TV: RDS, TSN, SUN
Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Forwards
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Rene Bourque – Tomas Plekanec – Louis Leblanc
Mike Blunden – Lars Eller – Blake Geoffrion
Brad Staubitz – Petteri Nokelainen – Aaron Palushaj
Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Andrei Markov – Alexei Emelin
Frederic St. Denis – Chris Campoli
Goaltenders
Peter Budaj (confirmed) – Robert Mayer
Scratches
Injuries
Brian Gionta (biceps) – Travis Moen (upper body) – Mathieu Darche (dizziness/upper body) – Raphael Diaz (lower body) – Scott Gomez (concussion) – Tomas Kaberle (upper body) – Yannick Weber (lower body) – Ryan White (flu) – Carey Price (concussion)
Power-play
Pacioretty – Desharnais – Cole – Markov – Subban
Bourque – Plekanec – Leblanc – St. Denis – Campoli
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Forwards
Martin St. Louis – Steven Stamkos – Teddy Purcell
J.T. Brown – Vincent Lecavalier – Ryan Malone
Tim Wallace – Tom Pyatt – Brett Connolly
J.T. Wyman – Brandon Segal – Mike Commodore
Defensemen
Victor Hedman – Eric Brewer
Brett Clark – Brian Lee
Keith Aulie – Brendan Mikkelson
Goaltenders
Sebastien Caron (confirmed) – Dwayne Roloson
Scratches
Injuries
Marc-Andre Bergeron (back) – Mattias Ohlund (knees) – Dana Tyrell (knee) – Ryan Shannon (shoulder) – Adam Hall (upper body) – Mathieu Garon (lower body)
GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines
► Price done for the season: On Wednesday morning, Canadiens goaltender Carey Price was diagnosed with a mild concussion by team physician Dr. David Mulder. Price will miss the final three games of the season and is unlikely to be available for Team Canada at the World Hockey Championships.
It was reported by RDS’ Renaud Lavoie on Twitter that Price was injured on March 20 during practise when David Desharnais fell on his head. Lavoie deleted the tweets (in French and English) after I pointed out to him that Price made four starts in goal after the collision. This would certainly bring into question the competency of Canadiens medical and training staff. It is not clear if Lavoie was contacted by the Canadiens media personnel to delete the report.
Price has been experiencing headaches since the incident.
“Carey usually doesn’t stay down very often He was a bit shaken up. I fell right on his head. He was complaining a little bit after the practice, just joking around that he had headaches because of me and stuff like that. But I guess it’s not a joke right now.” — David Desharnais
Robert Mayer recently called up from the Hamilton Bulldogs will back-up Peter Budaj for the final three games of the season.
► Habs GM search: The process for choosing the next Canadiens GM has begun in earnest. ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun reported that the Habs have contacted player agent Pat Brisson and Blackhawks assistant GM Marc Bergevin to schedule interviews. The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to grant permission for the Habs to speak to assistant GM Claude Loiselle.
The Canadiens are also looking to speak with Lightning assistant GM Julien BriseBois. However BriseBois and Tampa GM Steve Yzerman have not accompanied the team to Montreal to avoid what would be a media circus.
Former Colorado Avalanche GM Francois Giguere is also on the Canadiens short list.
Former Habs captain Vincent Damphousse has released a statement that he will not allow his name to go forward for the position. Damphousse was never a serious candidate and likely came to the obvious conclusion that he isn’t qualified. His candidature was media promoted.
► Apply to be the new Canadiens GM: We can laugh at ourselves, can’t we? From Leafs humorist Down Goes Brown…
Montreal is known for a passionate fan base. What are your impressions of Canadiens fans?
( ) I admire their passion, although I’m still not sure why three of them are standing a few feet away while I fill this out and booing me.
( ) I recently worked for a southern-based US team and have never dealt with anything like what you have in Montreal, by which I mean hockey fans.
( ) Have to admit that it’s nice to see some Canadian fans who know how to riot after a playoff game without immediately tagging themselves in photos of it on Facebook.
( ) I have completely forgiven them for forcing my trade to Colorado by booing me during a blowout loss and am certainly not applying for this job as part of some devious long-running revenge plot, so let’s just change the subject.
See the rest: The Montreal Canadiens’ application form for the vacant GM job
► New at All Habs Hockey Magazine:
Habs Fans: Welcome to Smashville
Habs GM: Top 10 Bilingual Candidates
10 meilleurs candidats bilingues au poste de DG des Canadiens
Catching the Torch: Playoff March, Round 1
Prendre le Flambeau: Séries Éliminatoires, 1e ronde
Christmas in June: Filip Forsberg
► Puck’s take: Need to know who will win tonight? Puck the Bunny’s prediction is here. His record is an impressive 22-11-6.
(Feature photo by AP/Chris O’Meara)