O’Byrne replaces Brisebois, Tons of Potential in line combos against Bolts

Rick Stephens

16 years ago

Habster:

The Canadiens (27-13-6) will look to start off the second half of the season in a winning manner against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight (RDS, CKAC, CJAD 7:30pm).

The Habs are 1-1 against the Lightning this year but lost their last two games heading into the All-Star break while the Lightning (16-21-10) have shown steady improvement playing under coach Rick Tocchet, going 9-5-1 to close the first half and winning their last two games before the break.

The Lightning will have to play great hockey if they expect to get back into the playoff picture in the second half.

“This is what hockey is all about,” Mike Smith said, “making a push for the playoffs and guys elevating their games to new levels. If everybody does that and worries about themselves and gives a great effort, I think you’ll see us there in the end.”

Meanwhile, the Canadiens are getting healthier for the second half stretch with the return of Christopher Higgins and Saku Koivu to the line-up.

“We’ll start Chris off slowly and see where we go from there,” said Guy Carbonneau.

Higgins is just happy to finally be returning to game action, but doesn’t know what to expect in his first game back.

“I don’t know what to expect and we’ll see as the game goes on. Saku and I are sort of in the same position. We’ve both missed about five weeks or so and we’re in a position to help each other out.” (Quote sources: St. Peterberg Times)

Here are the line combinations going into tonight’s game:

Forward:

Kostitsyn – Lang – Kostitsyn

The KLK line needs to regain the great chemistry and offensive production they displayed prior to the last two games when they were held pointless.

Andrei has really picked up his game since being removed from the puck hogging Kovalev. He is creating chances with his speed and great puck possession game. He has shown very good chemistry with his brother and Robert Lang who has proven to be a solid addition to the Canadiens roster (Sundin who????)
Kovalev – Plekanec – Pacioretty

If Kovalev can tranfer his great All-Star MVP caliber play into the second half of the season, then this line could be even more productive.

They haven’t looked bad, but Tomas Plekanec needs to comtrol the puck more and use his speed to create chances for himself as well as his linemates.

You have to love the hustle and aggressive forecheck Max Pacioretty brings to the line. His anticipation of the play at both ends of the ice is exceptional.

Higgins – Koivu – D’Agostini

I love the potential this line could have with a great playmaking center in Saku Koivu, a 27 goal scorer in Higgins and a potential 25-35 goal scorer in Matt D’Agostini.

This line has the potential to be as good or better than when Ryder was playing really well (back to back 30 goal season!!) along side Higgins and Koivu. The difference is that D’Ags is faster, stronger along the boards and better at both ends of the ice than Michael Ryder was when he played for the Habs. It still remains to be seen if D’Ags can score 30 goals or more, but he definitely has shown a propensity to light the lamp during his brief stint in the NHL (8 goals in 24 games, with a lot of fourth line duties lately!!).

There certainly is tons of speed on the wings and Koivu should be able to hit them with passes in full flight to expose a very suspect Lightning defense corp.

Now with that being said, I guess we shouldn’t expect a lot from this line tonight as Higgins has missed 19 games and will be playing in his first game since separating his left shoulder. Koivu will only be playing in his second game since his high ankle sprain sidelined him for 16 games. There is also the fact that D’Agostini hasn’t played many games along side his new linemates, but the potential is certainly there IF Carbonneau can be patient!!!

Latendresse – Lapierre – Kostopoulos

What more can you say about the hardest working line on the team?

I call this the “Playoff” line as it displays the intensity, energy and grit a team needs for a long playoff run, something which I still feel the Habs lack.

Lapierre has finally started to etablish himself as a very good two way center and is becoming a solid face-off man (he is presently at 53% but was as high as 60% a few weeks ago).

Kostopoulos is playing his usual Energizer Bunny self and initiating more contact than he did earlier in the season while Latendresse has no choice but to raise his work ethic and hustle to match his linemates.

Defensive pairings:

Markov – Komisarek

Hamrlik – O’Byrne

Bouillon – Gorges

Goal: Price

Backup: Halak

Infirmary/Press box: Patrice Brisebois (healthy scratch), Steve Begin (healthy scratch), Dandenualt (broken arm), Tanguay (separated shoulder), Laraque (back).

(Quote sources: St. Peterberg Times and Montreal Gazette)