All Habs GameDay: Sunday January 15, 2012

On this day in hockey history… 1943 – Montreal’s Alex Smart became the first NHL rookie to score a hat trick in his first NHL game. 

GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!

NEW YORK RANGERS (28-10-4) vs. MONTREAL CANADIENS (16-20-8)

Last 10: New York (8-2-0); Montreal 3-6-1

Bell Centre,  7:00 p.m. EST

TV: RDS, NBCSP, TSN-HABS

Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Forwards
Scott Gomez – Tomas Plekanec – Rene Bourque
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Andrei Kostitsyn – Lars Eller – Travis Moen
Mathieu Darche – Petteri Nokelainen

Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Yannick Weber
Tomas Kaberle – Raphael Diaz

Goaltenders

Carey Price – Peter Budaj (will start)

Scratches
Mike Blunden – Alexei Emelin

Injuries
Ryan White – Andrei Markov – Brian Gionta

Power-play
Gomez – Plekanec – Cole – Kaberle – Subban
Pacioretty – Desharnais – Kostitsyn – Diaz – Campoli

NEW YORK RANGERS

Forwards
John Mitchell – Derek Stepan – Marian Gaborik
Carl Hagelin – Brad Richards – Ryan Callahan
Brandon Prust – Brian Boyle – Ruslan Fedotenko
Wojtek Wolski – Artem Anisimov – Mike Rupp

Defensemen
Ryan McDonagh – Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto – Anton Stralman
Marc Staal – Stu Bickel

Goaltenders
Henrik Lundqvist (will start) – Marty Biron

Scratches

Injuries

Steve Eminger – Mike Sauer – Brandon Dubinsky – Jeff Woywitka

GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines

► Ramo could be steal of the trade: Not only did Calgary GM get the best player in recent trade with Montreal in obtaining Mike Cammalleri, he may have acquired his starting goaltender of the future for a song.  Karri Ramo is described by scouts as the “beat goaltender in Europe.”

Many in Montreal are willing to  dismiss the value of Ramo arguing that he wasn’t interested in playing in the NHL.  That’s a false assumption.

“His desire is entirely to return to the NHL. He’s very excited about the trade. We never had any dialogue with Montreal because he knew the situation with Carey Price and that he wouldn’t get a shot there. It made his decision to sign a two-year deal with Omsk easy last summer.” — Todd Diamond, agent for Karri Ramo

Read more: Cammalleri deal could end Kiprusoff’s reign with Flames

► Puck’s take: Need to know who will win tonight? @PucktheBunny has his prediction here. His record is an amazing 10-3-2.

(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)