All Habs GameDay: Monday February 18, 2013
On this day in hockey history… 1918 – Montreal Canadiens’ goalie Georges Vezina recorded the first shutout in NHL history, blanking Toronto 9-0.
1967 – Montreal’s rookie goalie Rogie Vachon played in his first NHL game. His first shot was a breakaway by Gordie Howe. Vachon made the save.
1989 – Joe Nieuwendyk scored the 100th goal of his NHL career as the Flames lost 4-3 to the visiting Bruins. It took him 134 games to reach 100, tying him with Maurice Richard for second fastest 100 goals in history. Mike Bossy had 100 in 129 games.
GAMEDAY: Injuries to go around.
| CAROLINA HURRICANES (8-4-1) |
vs. | MONTREAL CANADIENS (9-4-1) |
 |
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC 7:30 p.m. EST TV: RDS, NHLN-US, TSN-HABS |
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|
Away Record: 5-2-1 |
Home Record: 6-3-0 Goals For: 40 Goals against: 34 PP percentage: 19.2 (11th) PK percentage: 82.6 (13th) |
Projected line combinations (will be updated following morning skate)
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Updates
Brendan Gallagher out with concussion.
Forwards
Rene Bourque – Tomas Plekanec – Brian Gionta
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Lars Eller
Brandon Prust – Alex Galchenyuk – Erik Cole
Travis Moen – Ryan White – Colby Armstrong
Defensemen
Andrei Markov – Alexei Emelin
Josh Gorges – Raphael Diaz
Francis Bouillon – P.K. Subban
Scratches
Brendan Gallagher (concussion), Tomas Kaberle, Yannick Weber
CAROLINA HURRICANES
Updates
Jeff Skinner out with upper-body injury
Riley Nash & Jeremy Welsh are IN.
Tim Brent & Kevin Westgarth are OUT.
Forwards
Jiri Tlusty – Eric Staal – Alexander Semin
Jussi Jokinen – Jordan Staal – Pat Dwyer
Andreas Nodl – Riley Nash – Chad LaRose
Drayson Bowman – Jeremy Welsh – Tim Wallace
Defensemen
Joe Corvo – Jamie McBain
Jay Harrison – Justin Faulk
Bobby Sanguinetti – Michal Jordan
Scratches
Jeff Skinner (upper-body) – Joni Pitkanen (lower-body) – Tim Gleason (lower-body) – Tim Brent – Kevin Westgarth
PROJECTED GOALTENDERS
Updates
Carey Price will dress but is not expected to play as he recovers from the flu.
Peter Budaj confirmed starter for Canadiens.
Cam Ward confirmed starter for Hurricanes.
| Cam Ward (Confirmed) | vs. |
Peter Budaj (Confirmed) |
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| Record: 5-3-1 (22nd) GAA : 3.22 (39th) Sv%: .902 (28th) SO: 0 EV GA/60: 2.26 (24th) |
Record: 1-1-1 GAA : 3.24 Sv%: .884 SO: 0 EV GA/60: 3.27 |
(updated following morning skate)
GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines
► Injuries riddle both teams:
- The Montreal Canadiens victory against the Philadelphia Flyers this Saturday came at a cost, as the Canadiens will be without Brendan Gallagher for at least this upcoming game, out with a concussion. This came after he recorder his fifth goal of the season, and also recorded an assist to finish the night with two points.
- Michel Therrien had this to say in his case:
“In Gallagher’s case, it’s a concussion. We’re going to follow the protocol. He felt much better this morning [Sunday] than last night. He definitely won’t play on Monday night against Carolina, and we’ll take it from there.”
- Both Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais were disappointed to hear Gallagher would be out of the lineup against Carolina, after all three had been matched up together against the Flyers and played tremendously well.
- Pacioretty talked about how easy he finds it is to play with Gallagher:
“He’s a really easy player to play with. It’s unfortunate that he got hurt. We had great chemistry going last game. He gets in on the forecheck and he moves his feet, which makes it easy for his linemates, so he played a great game. Hopefully, when he comes back, we pick up where we left off.”
- As for Desharnais, he talked about Gallagher’s work ethic and how adaptable he can be on the Canadiens lineup:
“It’s very bad luck. He’s a guy who works extremely hard. He’ll work with any line, so there’s no bad fit with a guy like that. He’s always well-positioned, and he’s the first guy on the puck. He always back-checks so we’re able to get the puck back to start a new rush.”
- The Carolina Hurricanes have their own injury situations to deal with, initially having both Joni Pitkanen and Tim Gleason out with lower-body injuries, they announced Sunday that Jeff Skinner wouldn’t be making the trip to Montreal, out with an upper-body injury. Skinner’s is second in points for the Hurricanes with 14 (seven goals and seven assists), three behind Eric Staal who leads the team with 17 points (eight goals and nine assists).
- Head coach Kirk Muller was very brief when asked about Skinner’s situation:
“We’ll evaluate him when we get back on Tuesday.”
► The flu is starting to go around:
- While Carey Price is expected to miss a second start (but expected to be backup to Peter Budaj) due to the flu, we are now hearing out the Canadiens’ camp that P.K. Subban might also be battling the flu. He is however expected to be in the lineup against the Hurricanes.
► Budaj is a team guy? Evidence:
- Peter Budaj recorded his first win of the season against the Flyers Saturday night and thanks to a flu that has hit Carey Price, he’ll likely have the chance to do it again Monday night against the Hurricanes.
- So often we have heard about how Budaj is “a great team guy in the room”. Many of us don’t have the luxury of being in the room to witness this, but often through quotes, you can catch a hint to justify what we have often heard.
- Here’s what Budaj had to say about his teammates after the win against Philly:
“It feels great. Our team played a great defensive game and helped me out a lot. I didn’t have much work. I think until the last seven minutes of the game they only had seven shots on net. Our team played great, great penalty killing, a lot of blocked shots and it was a great team effort. We have a great bunch of guys inside this dressing room. We’re really sticking together and that’s always one of the most important things. We battle for each other. I battled tonight for them and they battled for me.”
- In summary, he said his team played great, he didn’t have much work, his team played great, great penalty killing, blocked shots, his team played great, they are a great bunch, they stick together, they battle for each other, they played great. What a guy.
► Canadiens improving at the faceoff circle?
- The Canadiens were 38 for 67 (57 per cent) at the faceoff circle against the Flyers Saturday night, which is an improvement from the season average of 46.5 per cent, good enough for 27th overall in the league.
- They will need to carry the momentum against the Hurricanes who are currently 11th overall in the league with a season average of 50.9 per cent. Jussi Jokinen currently leads the Canes with an impressive season average of 57.1 per cent over 184 faceoffs taken. Eric Staal is second with a season average of 52.8 per cent over 252 faceoffs taken.
- Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais, who are technically Montreal’s number one and two centers are currently averaging 47.8 and 45.4 per cent on the season respectively.
► Scoring Leaders:
- HURRICANES:
Eric Staal: 8G, 9A
Jeff Skinner: 7G, 7A
Jordan Staal: 2G, 10A
- CANADIENS:
Tomas Plekanek: 7G, 5A
Andrei Markov: 4G, 6A
Rene Bourque: 5G, 5A
Raphel Diaz: 10A
► Puck’s take:
- Unfortunately, Puck had a family emergency and couldn’t record a video for tonight’s game.
https://twitter.com/HabsPuckBunny/status/303633649562181632
► Habs Tickets:
- With games against the Hurricanes and Rangers upcoming, click the link to find the best selection of Montreal Canadiens tickets.
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(Feature Photo: John Morstad)