All Habs GameDay: Wednesday November 16, 2011

On this day in hockey history… 1998 – Montreal Canadiens traded defensemen Dave Manson, Brad Brown and goaltender Jocelyn Thibault to Chicago for goalie Jeff Hackett, defensemen Eric Weinrich and Alain Nasreddine.

GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!

MONTREAL CANADIENS vs CAROLINA HURRICANES

Bell Centre,  7:00 p.m. EST TV: RDS, TSN

Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Forwards
Travis Moen – Tomas Plekanec – Brian Gionta
Max Pacioretty  – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Mike Cammalleri – Lars Eller – Aaron Palushaj
Scott Gomez – Petteri Nokelainen – Mathieu Darche

Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Frederic St. Denis – Yannick Weber
Alexei Emelin – Raphael Diaz

Goaltenders
Carey Price (will start) – Peter Budaj

Scratches
Hal Gill (flu) – Andrei Kostitsyn (groin) – Jaroslav Spacek (upper-body) – Andreas Engqvist (undisclosed)

Injuries
Chris Campoli – Andrei Markov – Ryan White

Power-play

Pacioretty – Desharnais – Cole – Weber – Plekanec
Cammalleri – Gomez – Gionta – Subban – Diaz

CAROLINA HURRICANES

Forwards
Eric Staal – Brandon Sutter – Chad LaRose
Jeff Skinner – Jussi Jokinen – Tuomo Ruutu
Alexei Ponikarovsky – Tim Brent – Pat Dwyer
Jiri Tlusty – Zac Dalpe – Zach Boychuk

Defensemen
Bryan Allen – Tim Gleason
Jay Harrison – Jamie McBain
Derek Joslin – Tomas Kaberle

Goaltenders
Cam Ward (will start) – Brian Boucher

Scratches

Injuries
Joni Pitkanen (lower-body)

GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines

►Cole is happy in Montreal: Montreal can be one of the best and one of the most challenging markets in which to play hockey. Off-ice Erik Cole has adjusted just fine — he and his family are quite happy although not without a few surprises.

“I knew everyone cared so much about hockey in Montreal. But I was picking up my kids from school one day and the school custodian says, ‘Why does the coach hate you so much?’ I was completely shocked by the question. I said to my kids, ‘In the car, let’s go!’ That’s when I knew it was a different place.” — Erik Cole

There has been an adjustment to make on the ice as well as Cole tries to fit into playing passive hockey dictated by the Jacques Martin system.

“With Carolina, I was always going, going, going, getting in on the forecheck. Here, with the systems it’s more read and react. But I’m getting more opportunities now and my confidence has grown.” — Erik Cole

Even a veteran like Cole was subjected to Martin’s standard operating procedure of stripping the confidence of new players. Following Pierre Gauthier‘s shot-across-the-bow to Martin, Cole has received more ice-time and has been dominant the past few games.

“Playing 18 to 22 minutes a game alongside Eric Staal and then playing 12-13 minutes here made it tough at first. I felt good most nights but it was an adjustment. But all in all, it’s been great.” — Erik Cole

Read more: Cane’s Cole adjusts in Montreal

► NHL GM’s: Protect goalies! Excluding Boston fans and their bloodthirsty media, the hockey world was united in its outrage at the violent hit by the Bruins’ Milan Lucic on Sabres’ goaltender Ryan Miller. Fans, media and players have been speaking out over the past few days perplexed that Lucic did not receive a suspension for injuring Miller, out indefinitely with a concussion.

On Tuesday, NHL general managers, meeting in Toronto, sent a stern message to NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan: he must do a better job protecting goaltenders.  The majority of GM’s (about two-thirds) felt that Lucic should have been suspended for his actions, and that the hit deserved a major-penalty for charging.  This level of punishment is in line with former NHL referee Kerry Fraser‘s assessment.

Read more: NHL General Managers Call for More Goalie Protection

►The best defense…: Monday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres was disappointing for Habs fans.  The third period collapse by the Canadiens was frustrating to watch and the shoot-out was downright painful.  But it was comments by Montreal head coach Jacques Martin that had blood boiling.

In our game review, we described the comments of the coach that were opposite to what we saw on the ice, and incongruent with Habs players views.  Our friend Kyle Roussel has picked up on that theme in his most recent piece.

I really feel like I could spin the title of this post – “He’s Lying to You” in to a series of posts, and I may just do that. But for now, let’s kick this one around.
“The plan was not to sit back at all. The best defense is offense.” — Jacques Martin
Martin has tried to sell us many good yarns this year, but this one is really a shocker coming from the King of Passive hockey.

Read more: He’s Lyin’ to You

►At Brossard: Evelyne Audet from Habs TV reported from practise on Tuesday morning including an interview with defenseman Andrei Markov.