All Habs Headlines: Thursday October 15, 2015 | Game Day – Home Opener! |
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On this day in hockey history… 1955 — Montreal defeated the Rangers 4-1 at the Forum. Maurice Richard scored twice while his younger brother, Canadien rookie Henri scored his first NHL goal. 1974 — The first NHL game was played at the Capital Center, in Landover, Maryland. The Washington Capitals tied 1-1 with the Los Angeles Kings. 1988 — Mario Lemieux scored twice and added six assists, and Rob Brown recorded his first career hat trick as the Penguins won 9-2 against St. Louis, in Pittsburgh. |
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► All Habs Game Day!
- The Canadiens completed their road sweep with a 3-2 win over the Penguins on Tuesaday. You can read our game report here: Recap – Canadiens vs Penguins: Plekanec, Price, Pacioretty Lead Habs to Perfect Start
- It was an optional practice for the Canadiens on Wednesday in Brossard. Taking part were: Mike Condon, Devante Smith-Pelly, Brian Flynn, Paul Byron, David Desharnais, Greg Pateryn, Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi.
- It was a full game day skate on Thursday for the Canadiens. Michel Therrien announced that there would be no lineup changes for the game against the Rangers.
- Carey Price will get the start in goal. Henrik Lundqvist is expected to be in goal for the Rangers.
- For a comprehensive preview of tonight’s matchup, including lines, statistics, TV, fantasy outlook and more, read: Game Day: Rangers vs Canadiens – Home Opener, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy
Forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders at Thursday’s practice
Pacioretty – Plekanec – Gallagher
Eller – Galchenyuk – Semin
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Flynn/Byron – Mitchell – Smith-Pelly
Markov – Subban
Emelin – Petry
Beaulieu – Gilbert
Tinordi – Pateryn
Price
Condon
► $100 million well spent
- Canadiens owner Geoff Molson announced yesterday morning that the Bell Centre would be receiving a $100 million facelift over the next three years.
- “This major investment is intended to maintain our standards of excellence and to ensure the quality of the Bell Centre visitor experience.”
- These renovations will be affecting the many portions of the interior and exterior of the rink and more specifically the following things will be touched up or replaced:
replacement of 21,288 seats (completed)
Redesign of the corridors + addition of video screens
New look for food concessions
Renovation of loges and salons
Wide area WIFI coverage/access
Reorganization of backstage area
Optimization of mechanical and staging equipment
Restoration of the Salon Jacques-Beauchamp
Updating of La Mise au Jeu and 9-4-10 restaurants - “It’s very important to us that our fans be able to get up, get something to eat, maybe go to the bathroom and get back into their seats before the start of the next period. Secondly, we’re offering fans the opportunity to order food in their seats and it gets delivered to them within five minutes.”
.@GMolsonCHC unveils new plans for the Bell Centre.
WATCH -> http://t.co/LPeJt4pTDF #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/1HhFQn8nAi
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 14, 2015
► Audette to face off versus Russia
- The QMJHL announced the team’s roster for the Subway Super Series and Habs prospect Daniel Audette was the only player in the organization on the roster. Mind you he’s the only Habs prospect in the QMJHL.
- The Sherbrooke Phoenix forward has 14 points in nine games this season and will take part in his first Subway Series this season.
- Last year Nikita Scherbak was the only Canadiens prospect to participate in the competition, obviously for team Russia.
In 60 games last season he had 29 goals and 73 points along with a mediocre minus-16 rating, the lowest of his career to that point. He also had six points in as many games in the playoffs.
► Practicing his shooting
- Yesterday at Habs practice, former MVP and Vezina trophy winner Carey Price was seen on the ice practicing his shots with a player’s stick.
- As is mentioned 4,000 times in NHL 16, Price was a former forward in roller hockey and isn’t exactly incompetent with a stick.
Carey pratique son tir. #Habs pic.twitter.com/PicslDs6Y8
— Diane Sauvé (@DSauve_rc) October 14, 2015
► Best time of the year
P.K. Subban and many other Canadiens players are noted Toronto Blue Jays fans and are supporting the team on their quest towards the World Series.- The Canadiens’ highest paid player posted a picture on Instagram with him in a custom Blue Jays jersey.
- In the caption he notes that noted Canadiens fan Liam Hendricks bestowed him with the jersey.
► Insane MLB win
- The Toronto Blue Jays completed the improbable comeback on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers and Canadiens players were watching.
- Brendan Gallagher described his reaction to Jose Bautista’s game-winning three-run home-run: “Me and Devo (Devante Smith-Pelly) started jumping around, might’ve even hugged each other.”
- Gallagher added that if he was on the bench, he would have been thrown out of the game following the incident between Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin and Rangers batter Shin-Soo Choo saying “Been a Jays fan for awhile.”
- P.K. Subban said that he approved of Bautista’s bat flip after the home-run, “I loved it! I heard someone kinda take shots at it. People need to just shut up and enjoy it.”
► The straw that broke the camel’s back
- In McDonald’s newest commercial involving a Canadiens player Jeff Petry, his “agent” and Habs GM Marc Bergevin give an insider’s look at how the defenceman actually signed his contract this offseason.
- It rather incredible that the Canadiens give us this kind of access especially since they are a pretty “hush-hush” organization.
► Down to the ECHL
- The St. John’s Ice Caps have sent down goaltender Eddie Pasquale and defenceman Travis Brown to the ECHL to join the Brampton Beast.
- Both players were regarded as surpluses on an Ice Caps team that is loaded with talent at every position.
- Pasquale, a former Winnipeg Jets farmhand, was inevitably sent down as he was battling with Zach Fucale and Dustin Tokarski who weren’t entirely playing themselves out of their jobs. He’s with the organization on an AHL contract.
- Brown, who is also signed to an AHL contract, had to overcome some pretty large odds with a loaded left side of the defensive core that includes Mark Barberio and Mac Bennett.
There were some rumblings that Fucale might be the odd man out on the rock but eventually the ‘Caps sent the former 117th overall pick in 2009 down.
► A ridiculous sigh of relief
- Some were unintelligently concerned when first overall pick Connor McDavid hadn’t scored for two games but the superstar dispelled any doubt.
- This deflection that put an end to his TWO-GAME scoreless streak was a great tip but McDavid humbly said “I’m just happy I got a piece of it.”
- For some reason many were worried about the Newmarket, Ontario native when he hadn’t lit the lamp after a pair of games but if they’d actually watched the games they would’ve noticed that he was creating scoring opportunities was as elusive as ever.
► Sleepy captain
- The Washington Capitals were without their captain, Alex Ovechkin, Tuesday night after the Russian sniper overslept and missed the team’s morning skate before the team’s tilt with the San Jose Sharks.
- Ovechkin said he set his alarm for 8:30 PM instead of AM and subsequently missed the practice.
- Caps head coach Barry Trotz was sympathetic towards his team’s best player but still has to uphold team standards “It was an honest mistake but we have certain accountability rules and everyone is accountable in our room.”
- Washington ended up losing against one of their former teammates Joel Ward by the score of 5-0.
- This is the first benching Trotz has given out in his year plus tenure as head coach of the Capitals.
► Embracing their ringleader
- Undoubtedly, largest asset to come to Toronto this offseason was head coach Mike Babcock and the Maple Leafs fan base has fully embraced their highest paid member.
- Someone made a product and a subsequent Twitter account with Mike Babcock’s face on a pair of socks and coined the brand “Babsocks”.
- I can’t wait until a Habs fan makes a Michel Therrien version of this…
Integrity, character, leadership; Why not wear them on your foot? Roll up your Babsocks and support the #leafs pic.twitter.com/KHcEXy7gv8
— Babsocks (@Babsocks) October 14, 2015
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