All Habs GameDay: Saturday November 26, 2011

On this day in hockey history… 1917 – The National Hockey League was founded. The original teams were the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Arenas, and Quebec Bulldogs (which announced that they would not operate during the inaugural season).

GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!

 MONTREAL CANADIENS vs PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Bell Centre,  7:00 p.m. EST TV: RDS, CBC

Projected line combinations (will be updated following morning skate)

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Forwards
Mike Cammalleri – Tomas Plekanec – Brian Gionta
Max Pacioretty  – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Mathieu Darche – Lars Eller – Travis Moen
Andrei Kostitsyn – Petteri Nokelainen – Aaron Palushaj

Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Yannick Weber
Alexei Emelin – Raphael Diaz

Goaltenders
Carey Price  (will start) – Peter Budaj

Scratches
Frederic St. Denis

Injuries
Scott Gomez – Jaroslav Spacek – Andreas Engqvist – Chris Campoli – Andrei Markov – Ryan White

Power-play
Pacioretty – Eller – Cole – Weber – Plekanec
Cammalleri – Desharnais – Gionta – Subban – Diaz

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Forwards
Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Pascal Dupuis
Steve Sullivan – Evgeni Malkin – James Neal
Matt Cooke – Jordan Staal   – Tyler Kennedy
Craig Adams – Joe Vitale – Arron Asham

Defensemen
Brooks Orpik – Kris Letang
Paul Martin – Zbynek Michalek
Deryk Engelland – Matt Niskanen

Goaltenders
Marc-Andre Fleury (will start) – Brent Johnson

Scratches
Richard Park

Injuries
Brian Strait – Ben Lovejoy

GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines

► Meet P.K.: Habs defenseman P.K. Subban will be at a signing event tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. (Sunday, November 27).  You will find him in Brossard at Best Buy, Quartier DIX30 store.

► Avtsin promised 10 games: On Thursday the agent for Hamilton Bulldogs forward Alexander Avtsin told SovSport.ru that his client had been promised a 10-game stint this season with the Montreal Canadiens.

“After the Subway Super Series game I went to Hamilton, where my client, Alexander Avtsin, plays in the AHL. He went into the top five, he made three assists and became one of the best players of the match. He’s a serious player with a unique attitude. I was at his house a three-room apartment, and one of the rooms – a special gym. I laughed, “You practice a little, eh?”. There are different simulators, and many of us to wonder, jogging track, he’s coached his ankle, working on different muscle groups. Montreal Canadiens has promised 10 games this season. “- Alex Dementiev (translated), agent for Alexander Avtsin

Read more: Avtsin to play 10 games for Montreal this season (in Russian)

► Gretzky a Leaf?: With the Toronto Maple Leafs ownership situation a major topic of discussion in Hogtown, blogger Down Goes Brown looks at the ways the team would be different if owned by Wayne Gretzky.  Here’s two:

• “Effective immediately, the owner’s office is moved from a lavish corner suite in the Air Canada Centre to directly behind the opponent’s net.”
• “Hockey fans in Toronto would no doubt be eager to embrace a legendary Hall of Famer with multiple Stanley Cup rings and would give him plenty of time to execute on his plan before criticizing him, mutters Ken Dryden bitterly.”

► Updates: For the latest information, follow us on Twitter @All_Habs

► Nokelainen gets first as a Hab Evelyn Audet from HabsTV speaks with Canadiens forward Petteri Nokelainen after he scored his first goal in a Habs jersey against the Philadelphia Flyers.