GameDay: Hurricanes vs Habs Preview, Lineups, Price, Subban, Rookies

All Habs GameDay: Monday April 1, 2013

On this day in hockey history… In 1989 – Montreal goalie Patrick Roy completed an unbeaten season at home, going 25-0-4, as the Canadiens tied the Flyers, 2-2.

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

Habs:

• Rene Bourque and Ryan White skated with strength and conditioning coach Pierre Allard prior to joining their teammates for practice on Monday morning.
• Olivier Archambault has signed an amateur try-out contract with the Hamilton Bulldogs.
• P.K. Subban has been named the NHL’s second star for the month of March.

Hurricanes:

• Dan Ellis was taken off injured reserve and will backup Justin Peters.
• Consequently, goaltender John Muse was sent down to AHL.

TOP SCORERS

► Carey Price and the Habs dominate the Rangers: 

• It’s safe to say that the New York Rangers probably wouldn’t want to face the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs, that is if the Rangers do make the playoffs as they currently sit in eighth place with 35 points.
• Everyone between the 9th and 14th place position are only four points or less behind.
• The Canadiens and Rangers have completed all three of their regular season match-ups this season with the Habs winning all three games with Carey Price playing all three.
• In the first game, Price stopped 24 of 25 shots helping the Canadiens win 3-1 over the Rangers. He and the Canadiens followed up with 3-0 shutout wins in both of the following games.
• Over the course of the three games, Price had a 0.33 goals against average, .987 save percentage stopping 75 of 76 shots directed at him and a .985 save percentage at even strength stopping 68 of 69 shots he faced.
• Both shutouts came at home for Price.

► The Habs march through the month:

• The month of March proved profitable for the Canadiens who finished with a record of 9-3-2 over 14 games and with an impressive record of 7-2-0 on the road.
• Over the month, they were 3-1-1 against divisional opponents, beating the Senators once, Boston Bruins twice, while losing both in regulation and overtime to do the Buffalo Sabres.

► P.K. Subban’s game on whole other level:

• P.K. Subban is going through a great stretch with the Canadiens.
• In the last game against the Rangers on Saturday, Subban picked up three assists and is now second on the Canadiens’ roster in points with 10 goals and 17 assists.
• His 27 points put him third amongst NHL defensemen, with Kris Letang (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Ryan Suter (Minnesota Wild) both having 28 points.
• Subban’s 10 goals rank him first amongst defensemen, with four players trailing behind with seven goals a piece.
• Subban and Letang have both played 28 games this season while Suter has 34 under his belt.
• Shall you begin the Norris Trophy conversation, or shall I?

► Rookie Watch:

• Saturday night against the Rangers, Brendan Gallagher picked up a goal while Alex Galchenyuk was held off the scoresheet.
• Gallagher now totals 11 goals and 9 assists for 19 points on the season.
• Galchenyuk has amounted 3 goals and 12 assists for 15 points on the season.
• Respectively, they rank third and tied for ninth amongst rookies in the league.

Top 10 NHL Rookies / Total Points

1. Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA): 13G, 12A, 25PTS
2. Cory Conacher (TBL): 9G, 15A, 24PTS
3. Brendan Gallagher (MTL): 11G, 9A, 20PTS
4. Brandon Saad (CHI): 6G, 13A, 19PTS
5. Vladimir Tarasenko (STL): 8G, 8A, 16PTS
6. Nail Yakupov (EDM): 6G, 10A, 16PTS
7. Justin Schultz (EDM): 5G, 11A, 16PTS
8. Marcus Foligno (BUF): 5G, 11A, 15 PTS
9. Mike Zibanejab (OTT): 6G, 9A, 15PTS
10. Patrick Wiercioch (OTT): 4G, 11A, 15 PTS
11. Alex Galchenyuk (MTL): 3G, 12A, 15PTS

Head Coach Michel Therrien on P.K. Subban:

“P.K. is playing great hockey right now.” said Therrien following the game. “He’s playing with confidence, he’s got a great attitude and he’s always willing to learn. We’ve asked him to be responsible when he has the puck and also when he doesn’t and that’s one aspect of his game that he’s improved upon tremendously. It’s fun for the coaching staff to work with a guy like him that’s really putting in the effort and getting great results,” he added. “P.K. Subban has been playing inspired hockey for this team.”

Subban on how the Habs played and his interference penalty:

“I felt we started off great. To be honest, we did the little things. It seems as soon as we scored the first goal, they started firing back, but I thought we kept doing the right things.” shared Subban. “When we got back to our game plan, we dominated. I’m usually screaming, yelling and banging my stick while I’m in the box.” he added, speaking of his interference penalty. “Obviously I was really happy to see the guys kill my penalty off for me. It seems that every time I get in the box, the other team ends up scoring.”

Subban on Carey Price:

“To be honest, I thought it was a pretty routine game for him. The thing about Pricey is that he makes saves look easy, but a lot of those saves weren’t easy at all,” explained Subban. “Nobody’s surprised in this dressing room. He’s one of the best goaltenders in the league.”