All Habs GameDay: Monday November 14, 2011
On this day in hockey history… 2001 – Patrick Roy became the first goaltender in NHL history to win 200 games with two teams (Montreal and Colorado) when the Avalanche won 1-0 against the visiting Minnesota Wild.
GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!
BUFFALO SABRES vs 
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Bell Centre, 7:00 p.m. EST TV: RDS, Versus, TSN-Habs
Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Forwards
Travis Moen – Tomas Plekanec – Brian Gionta
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Scott Gomez – Lars Eller – Aaron Palushaj
Petteri Nokelainen – Andreas Engqvist – Mathieu Darche
Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Jaroslav Spacek – Yannick Weber
Alexei Emelin – Raphael Diaz
Goaltenders
Carey Price (will start) – Peter Budaj
Scratches
Hal Gill (flu) – Mike Cammalleri (leg) – Andrei Kostitsyn (groin)
Injuries
Chris Campoli – Andrei Markov – Ryan White
* Injury notes: Markov practised with his team-mates wearing a non-contact jersey. Campoli skated on his own. Kostitsyn missed the morning skate with a groin injury. Gill was absent too due to the flu. *
BUFFALO SABRES
Forwards
Thomas Vanek – Luke Adam – Jason Pominville
Ville Leino – Derek Roy – Drew Stafford
Nathan Gerbe – Paul Gaustad – Brad Boyes
Cody McCormick – Matt Ellis – Patrick Kaleta
Defensemen
Andrej Sekera – Mike Weber
Marc-Andre Gragnani – Christian Ehrhoff
Robyn Regehr – Jordan Leopold
Goaltenders
Jhonas Enroth (will start) – Drew MacIntyre
Scratches
Corey Tropp – Tyler Myers
Injuries
Tyler Ennis – Jochen Hecht – Ryan Miller
GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines
►Miller out indefinitely: Ryan Miller suffered a concussion and is out of the Sabres line-up indefinitely after a hit by Boston’s Milan Lucic. Miller called Lucic “gutless” and had a few other observations.
Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff thought the hit was deserving of a major penalty. “I thought, if it was open season on goalies then let’s get at it,” said Ruff.
The Sabres have called up Drew McIntyre from the Rochester Americans to backup Jonas Enroth. McIntyre played a large role in the success of the Hamilton Bulldogs last season.
Lucic has a disciplinary hearing scheduled today (Monday) at 1pm et with NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan.
►Prospect update: Several CHL teams in action this weekend played three games in three nights. One of these was the defending Memorial Cup Champions, the Saint John Sea Dogs, whose Habs’ prospect Nathan Beaulieu picked up at least a point in all three games, racking up a total of one goal, four assists. Over in Drummondville, after difficult outings against Blainville-Boisbriand and Shawinigan, Olivier Archambault ended his weekend with three points, including a goal and an assist in yesterday’s 6-1 win over Rimouski.
Back in the lineup for the London Knights is Jarred Tinordi, who was a combined +3 and picked up an assist against Erie on Saturday night. In the Western Hockey League, Darren Dietz went 1-1 over the weekend, also with a +3, and Brendan Gallagher had a goal and an assist on Saturday before potting the game-tying goal (his 18th of the year) to send his Vancouver Giants into the shootout on Sunday, a game they later won 4-3.
►Bulldogs in town: After heading home to Copps Coliseum to face the Peoria Rivermen on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.), the Hamilton Bulldogs will be at the Bell Centre on Friday night (also at 7:30 p.m.) to face the defending Calder Cup Champion Binghamton Senators, a team they beat Sunday afternoon by a count of 5-2. Louis Leblanc scored his second goal as a pro, Frédéric St. Denis had a goal and an assist and Alexander Avtsin picked up three assists. Tickets to Friday night’s game, if you haven’t got yours already, can be purchased here or at the Bell Centre box office.
►Vote today: Fan balloting for the 2012 NHL All-Star game opens today. Carey Price, Tomas Plekanec, Mike Cammalleri and P.K. Subban have been nominated. Don’t forget that you can write in other Habs who are off to a great start like Max Pacioretty and Yannick Weber. Or perhaps you would like to see Canadiens captain Brian Gionta in Ottawa for the mid-season classic.
Vote for your favorite All-Stars here.
Too bad Miller got hurt, but if goalies want to waunder and play the puck they should be fair game shouldnt they?
But what a crappy non-response by Sabres eh, to not stand up for goalie!
Not one Hab is looking like an all star this year (yet), but Price is probably the closest thing.
That may be your preference Don, but the NHL Rule book says differently and is quite explicit on the issue. Rule 69.4 includes the phrase “A goalkeeper is not “fair game” just because he is outside the goal crease.”
Agreed on Carey Price. Both he and Max Pacioretty are having All-Star calibre seasons so far.
There’s a difference between being “fair game” for a hit, and what Lucic did.
He hit Miller well after he’d played the puck (definitely avoidable), led with the forearms, and hit the head.
Dirty.
Agreed Chris. Lucic went after Miller with intent — it was clear from his strides and the hit following through with his arms. Players around the league are saying that the contact was easily avoidable.
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