All Habs GameDay: Thursday October 6, 2011

On this day in hockey history… 1955 – Toe Blake made his NHL coaching debut as the Montreal Canadiens beat Toronto 2-0. Jacques Plante got his 11th career shutout.

 

►Season opener! Game #1:  Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs

Air Canada Centre 7:00 pm. EDT
TV: CBC, RDS

Expected line combinations:

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Forwards
Andrei Kostitsyn – Tomas Plekanec – Mike Cammalleri
Max Pacioretty – Scott Gomez – Brian Gionta
Mathieu Darche – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Yannick Weber – Blair Betts Andreas Engqvist – Travis Moen

Defenseman

Hal Gill – P.K. Subban
Chris Campoli – Josh Gorges
Jaroslav Spacek – Raphael Diaz

Goaltenders
Carey Price
Peter Budaj

Press box
Alexei Yemelin

Injured
Lars Eller
Andrei Markov
Ryan White

UPDATE:

Newly acquired Blair Betts will not play tonight. Conflicting reports point to a lower body injury or an ongoing shoulder problem.  To take his place, Andreas Engqvist has been recalled from Hamilton.

Lars Eller will not play in Toronto and has been ruled out vs the Jets in Winnipeg on Sunday. He has not yet been cleared for contact.

 

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

Forwards
Joffrey Lupul – Tyler Bozak – Phil Kessel
Matt Frattin – Mikhail Grabovski – Nikolai Kulemin
Joey Crabb – Matthew Lombardi – Colby Armstrong
Mike Brown – David Steckel – Jay Rosehill

Defensemen
Dion Phaneuf – Carl Gunnarsson
Luke Schenn – John-Michael Liles
Mike Komisarek – Jake Gardiner

Goaltenders
James Reimer
Jonas Gustavsson

►Woywitka to ‘Dogs?: On Wednesday, Canadiens defenseman Jeff Woywitka was placed on waivers.  If he clears waivers today, Woywitka will be assigned to the Hamilton Bulldogs and will begin the season in the AHL.

“It’s a little disappointing. It’s part of the business. You gotta move on. You just try to get back up here as soon as possible.” — Jeff Woywitka

Audio at CJAD: Woywitka is disappointed

 

UPDATE: Woywitka was claimed off waivers by the New York Rangers on Thursday morning.

Read more: Rangers claim Woywitka at Blueshirts United.

►Price supports Hockey Fights Cancer: Our friend David Hutchison at InGoal Magazine alerted us to a story about Canadiens goalie Carey Price placing an order for a set of Reebok P4 pads and gloves that will be accented in pink to help raise awareness for breast cancer.  At the end of October, his mask, stick, pads and gloves will be auctioned with the proceeds going to cancer research.

Read more : Carey Price goes with pink P4 for Hockey Fights Cancer

 

 

UPDATE: InGoal Magazine has posted a piece explaining the background behind Carey Price’s mask bringing awareness to cancer research and celebrating his native heritage.  Price’s new mask was designed by David Arrigo — more photos can be found at his website.

►Kristo cracks All-America team: A website devoted to USA Hockey has chosen Canadiens prospect Danny Kristo to its NCAA All-America team.  The authors give Kristo the right wing slot due to his speed, fierce competitiveness and his ability to make big plays. This will be Kristo’s third season playing for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

Of interest, the All-America center is Chris Kreider, a power-forward with blazing speed, from Boston College. The Canadiens passed on Kreider in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft to select Louis Leblanc.  Kreider was taken one spot later by the New York Rangers.

Read more: 2011-12 Pre-season All-America Team — NCAA

►From our friends:  We’re always happy to highlight articles of interest to our readers which appear elsewhere. See something you like, use the “Contact Us” tab to let us know and we’ll be sure to give you a stick tap.

You’ve heard it before. Player X (last season, it was Scott Gomez) is struggling, and your friend says: “Ship him to the Bulldogs!” Is it really that easy?

No, not really.

One consideration before sending a player to Hamilton is waiver eligibility. Habs World has put together a chart that lists the waiver situation (status and re-entry) for each player in Montreal and Hamilton. It is a handy resource to quickly settle your disputes.

►Video: It’s Time to Rise!
(edited by Sara, AllHabs.net)