All Habs Headlines: Monday December 21, 2015 |
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On this day in hockey history… 1964 — Montreal Canadiens General Manager Sam Pollock acquired left-winger Dick Duff from the New York Rangers after Gilles Tremblay went down with injury. 1972 — Boston’s Bobby Orr had an assist to set a new NHL record for career points (541) by a defenseman. It came in Orr’s 423rd career NHL game, an 8-1 win over Detroit. Doug Harvey held the previous record, with 540 points in 1,113 games. 1997 — Scotty Bowman became the first coach in NHL history to win 200 games with three different teams, the Canadiens, Red Wings and Sabres. |
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► Game day!
- The Canadiens will be facing another opponent from the West as they take on the Predators on Monday night. You can find our Game Day preview for the matchup here: GAME DAY | Canadiens – Predators: Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy
- Jeff Petry practiced on Sunday after missing the remainder of Saturday night’s game following a hard hit from Stars captain Jaime Benn. Petry did not skate on Monday and will miss the game against the Predators. Jarred Tinordi will take Petry’s place in the lineup making his first NHL start of the season.
- Dustin Tokarski will get the start in goal. Sven Andrighetto is expected to be a healthy scratch.
- The Canadiens lost 6-2 to the Stars on Saturday night. You can read our game recap here: RECAP | Canadiens – Stars: Habs Are More Than Just Carey Price?
Forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Pacioretty – Desharnais – Weise
Carr – Eller – Galchenyuk
Fleischmann – Plekanec – Byron
Flynn – Mitchell – McCarron
Smith-Pelly – Andrighetto
Beaulieu – Subban
Emelin – Markov
Tinordi – Gilbert
Petry – Pateryn
Tokarski
Condon
► Kassian in demand
- Zack Kassian completed his mandatory 3-month rehab stint in the NHL/NHLPA’s Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program. Kassian was placed on waivers and sent to the St. John’s IceCaps. The IceCaps next play on December 26.
- Renaud Lavoie reported that several general managers are interested in acquiring Kassian. Expect the scouting box to be full as the IceCaps take on the Marlies at the Air Canada Centre.
► Pacioretty has had enough
- The Canadiens’ feculent play of late has lead to widespread frustration throughout the fanbase and organization and Captain Max Pacioretty’s voiced the team’s struggles.
- “Just look at my interviews for the last ten games, it’s the same f*****g thing, it’s a joke,” an aggravated Pacioretty’s told reporters. “I don’t know why we don’t have confidence, I don’t know why we forgot how to play the game.”
- “To think that we just show up at the rink, have a good time and it doesn’t affect us, that isn’t the case. We’ve done a lot behind closed doors,” the Habs bellwether stated.
- Pacioretty is currently second on the team in points, one behind Tomas Plekanec, despite going on a pointless streak of late.
► Final cuts made
- After a first game spurious to his abilities Noah Juulsen bounced back in game two of Canada’s preliminaries, but it wasn’t enough to save his job.
- Juulsen, along with Jérémy Lauzon, Nick Merkley and Jace Hawryluk were cut from team Canada’s WJC roster.
- The final roster looks like this:
Goalies: Mason McDonald, Mackenzie Blackwood, Samuel Montembeault.
Defenceman: Joe Hicketts, Haydn Fleury, Thomas Chabot, Brandon Hickey, Roland McKeown, Travis Sanheim, Travis Dermott
Forwards: Forwards: Anthony Beauvillier, Brayden Point, Brendan Perlini, Dylan Strome, Jake Virtanen, John Quenneville, Julien Gauthier, Lawson Crouse, Mathew Barzal, Mitchell Marner, Mitchell Stephens, Rourke Chartier, Travis Konecny
► Jagr moves to fourth all-time
- Jaromir Jagr, the man who’s been remunerative for every team he’s played for over 1500 games has reached another milestone in his illustrious career.
- After scoring his 731st career goal by deflecting home an Aleksander Barkov feed against the Vancouver Canucks last night, the former Pittsburgh Penguin tied Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne for fourth on the all-time goal scoring list.
- Dionne was asked about being passed on the all-time list “That’s the way it is. … I passed a lot of guys over the years, and I never thought when I passed somebody in scoring it was a great thing. It’s about respect. Game’s changed, there were different times.”
- Jagr is also fourth on the all-time points list, 25 behind “Mr. Hockey”, Gordie Howe.
► Crosby day-to-day
- This odd and fallacious season for Sidney Crosby has fuelled debates on whether the superstar is nursing an injury, he’s gone down due to an injury now.
- Crosby is considered day-to-day after Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said he has the infamous “lower-body” injury.
- “If Sid can play, he’ll play,” Sullivan told Penguins.com “That’s the type of guy that he is.”
- Sullivan went on to say that Crosby was injured in a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
- Crosby’s had an atrocious season relative to his standards with 22 points in 32 games on a Pittsburgh Penguins team that seemed like an impregnable playoff team but now is struggling to find the win column with consistency.
► Seven things you need to know to get drafted
- Former Drummondville Voltigeur Benoit Levesque took to his blog this week to give a little advice to aspiring professional hockey players.
- Here is the essence of his seven steps to getting noticed by scouts or coaches:
1. Be first on the puck. “Scouts & coaches love players who can recover pucks—the more your team has the puck, the better your chance is of winning. ”
2. Go to the net. “It’s no fun at all, but coaches & scouts love to see players who don’t mind taking the puck to the high-traffic areas.”
3. Backcheck. “[…] you WILL NOT play at a competitive level if you’re a liability to your team defensively. This is high up on a scout or coach’s list when evaluating players.”
4. Block shots. “If you can become an expert at blocking shots and add it to your already solid defensive play, any team will want to have you.”
5. Finish your hits. “Coaches & scouts love a player that finishes nearly all of his hits—the only time you shouldn’t finish your hit is if it takes you out of the play.”
6. Make hard passes. “It’s harder to intercept a pass if it’s hard and fast.”
7. Limit turnovers. “Coaches don’t like players who aren’t responsible with the puck, and scouts even less.” - Benoit Levesque was never drafted into the NHL.
► Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole
- The curmudgeon that is Shawn Thornton had a long career with the Boston Bruins and has continued his play in his new home in south Florida.
- The veteran scored, not only his first goal of the season, but his first goal in over a calendar year last night against the Canucks to tie the game at 1-1.
- Might I add, a true goal scorers goal, on his off wing and right in the slot.
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