All Habs GameDay: Saturday October 22, 2011

Happy Birthday to… former Canadiens player Stephane Quintal (43)

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS vs MONTREAL CANADIENS

Bell Centre  7:00 pm.  TV: RDS, CBC

►Canadiens hockey tonight!

Projected line combinations:

Projected line combinations:

MONTREAL CANADIENS

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

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

Goaltenders
Carey Price – Peter Budaj

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

Forwards

Phil Kessel – Mikhail Grabovski – Clarke MacArthur
Nikolai Kulemin – Matthew Lombardi – Joffrey Lupul
Mike Brown – Tyler Bozak – Matt Frakin
– David Steckel – Philippe Dupuis

Defensemen
Dion Phaneuf – John-Michael Liles
Luke Schenn – Carl Gunnarsson
Jake Gardiner – Mike Komisarek

Goaltenders
James Reimer – Jonas Gustavsson

►Injury update:  Andrei Markov remains in Florida undergoing rehab under the watchful eye of his orthopaedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews.  Scott Gomez had an MRI on Friday for his upper-body injury.  Jaroslav Spacek has resumed practise with his teammates — no date has been announced for his return.

Chris Campoli – hamstring tear
Scott Gomez – upper-body
Jaroslav Spacek – ribs
Andrei Markov –  knee
Ryan White – sports hernia

►Shootout win for ‘Dogs: On Friday night, the Hamilton Bulldogs picked up their third victory of the season with a 3-2 shootout win over the Rochester Americans.  Gabriel Dumont had the winner in the eighth round of a shootout.  Zack FitzGerald and Philip DeSimone had goals with Michael Blunden had two assists.  Nathan Lawson had 29 saves in the Hamilton goal.

Read more: There is life in ‘Dogs offense

►Photos on Facebook: The photo journalists of the All Habs team have been busy over the past month documenting events for you.  Find new galleries at our Facebook page from the Canadiens Training Camp, All Habs visit to Quebec City for the Habs – Lightning game, and the crew attending the Canadiens home opener.

While you are there don’t forget to “Like” All Habs to stay connected.

Check out the photos here: All Habs Hockey Magazine on Facebook

►From our friends:  We’re always happy to highlight articles of interest to our readers which appear elsewhere. See something you like, use the “Contact Us” tab to let us know and we’ll be sure to give you a stick tap.

Earlier this week we told you about Elliotte Friedman’s report which said that if a team is more than three points out of a playoff spot on November 1, they have a 7 per cent chance of making the playoffs.  Kyle Roussel at Cowhide and Rubber takes a look at last year’s edition of the New Jersey Devils who got off to a rough start, made a coaching change, went on a torrid .620 winning clip, and still missed the playoffs.  He relates the Devils to the current predicament of the Habs.

Read more: When to Pull the Trigger

Jacques Martin calls his system “puck possession” but his team spends most of the game in its own zone defending. Martin claims that he relies on the power-play to generate offense yet has installed a system which doesn’t draw many penalties. Call these Martin contradictions.

HabsWatch does some mythbusting and illustrates that Martin’s philosophy is not in sync with that of winning teams.

Read more: Why Martin’s coaching strategy is ass-backwards