All Habs GameDay: Saturday March 30, 2013

On this day in hockey history… In 1916 – Montreal Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup, defeating the PCHA Portland Rosebuds 2-1, to take the final series in the fifth and deciding game.

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

Habs:

• Jarred Tinordi and Gabriel Dumont were returned to the Hamilton Bulldogs. Nathan Beaulieu was called up and will be in the lineup.
• Brandon Prust is expected to play against the Rangers.
• Tomas Kaberle was placed on waivers.

Rangers:

• No updates at this time.

TOP SCORERS

► 100 NHL games for Emelin: 

• Alexei Emelin hit a milestone this week when he played his 100th NHL game, Wednesday night against the Boston Bruins.
• In his 100 games all with the Montreal Canadiens, Emelin has totalled 5 goals and 12 assists for 17 points, 10 of which have come this season over 33 games. A net improvement in this area.
• So far in his career, he has amounted 165 hits on his opponents.

► Two additional players hit double-digit scoring:

• Wednesday against the Bruins, Brendan Gallagher and P.K. Subban both scored their tenth goals of the season, adding their names to the list of Habs’ players who have hit double-digit scoring.
• The Canadiens now have five players with ten or more goals on the season.
• Also against the Bruins, Michael Ryder picked up his eleventh and twelfth goals of the season and now leads the Habs along side Tomas Plekanec.
• Subban, Gallagher and Brian Gionta all have ten goals.

► Nathan Beaulieu called up from the Bulldogs, Prust expected to play:

• The Canadiens announced on Friday that both Jarred Tinordi and Gabriel Dumont had been sent down to the Bulldogs and that young defenseman Nathan Beaulieu had been called up.
• Dumont being sent down all but means that we will be seeing Brandon Prust in the lineup against the Rangers.
• The fact that both Tinordi and Dumont were sent down had nothing to do with their play and head coach Michel Therrien was clear about this on Friday.
• He explained that playing  youngsters on the team is part of their development plan and the Canadiens had the window to do it.
• He also explained that by allowing these players to have some game time in the NHL, it allows them to have a better idea of what they need to work on, in order to play regularly at the NHL level.

► Rookie Watch:

• Wednesday night against the Penguins, Brendan Gallagher picked up a goal while Alex Galchenyuk had an assist to see them both improve on their season totals.
• Gallagher now totals 10 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 seventh amongst rookies in the league.

Top 10 NHL Rookies / Total Points

1. Cory Conacher (TBL): 9G, 15A, 24PTS
   
2. Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA): 13G, 10A, 23PTS
3. Brendan Gallagher (MTL): 10G, 9A, 19PTS
4. Vladimir Tarasenko (STL): 8G, 8A, 16PTS
5. Nail Yakupov (EDM): 6G, 10A, 16PTS
6. Brandon Saad (CHI): 4G, 12A, 16PTS
7. Mike Zibanejab (OTT): 6G, 9A, 15PTS
8. Justin Schultz (EDM): 5G, 10A, 15PTS
9. Marcus Foligno (BUF): 5G, 10A, 15 PTS
10. Patrick Wiercioch (OTT): 4G, 11A, 15 PTS
11. Alex Galchenyuk (MTL): 3G, 12A, 15PTS

Brendan Gallagher on the Canadiens’ third period comeback:

“It wasn’t an adjustment in our style, it was just an adjustment in our mindset and the way we were playing. We knew we had 20 minutes to change the game.” said Gallagher. “That was our only mindset. We had a lot of faith in the guys in the locker room; no one had their head down, no one was pouting. We knew we were going to come back.”

Josh Gorges on the all the Gallagher talk and praise:

“He deserves it all because he just works so hard.” praised Gorges. “In games like tonight, toward the end of games, those are the types of guys you want on the ice. You want the guys that get to the dirty areas and get in those scrums and grease it out. He came up huge for us in the end.”

Michel Therrien on Gallagher in the shootout:

“Shootouts are something we practice quite a bit, and you know what? That little guy is doing an excellent job.” said Therrien. “He’s a young man who just doesn’t understand pressure. He’s just out there having fun. I think it’s just the attitude he has. He went into this game with a great attitude and he came out with the winning goal.”