All Habs GameDay: Saturday April 27, 2013

On this day in hockey history… In 1971 – Scotty Bowman resigned as General Manager and Head Coach of the St. Louis Blues. Six weeks later he would become the Head Coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

PROJECTED LINE COMBINATIONS AND GOALTENDERS
(Will be updated following game day skate.)

TOP SCORERS

► Oh no, It’s Toronto:

• The Toronto Maple Leafs have not been an ideal opponent for the Montreal Canadiens so far this season with the former having won three of the four match-ups so far.

2012-13 Regular Season:

• Jan-19: TOR (2) vs MTL (1)
• Feb-09: TOR (6) vs MTL (0)
• Feb-27: MTL (5) vs TOR (2)
• Apr-13: MTL (1) vs TOR (5)
• Apr-27: This game could be interesting to predict!

• Some may this say that this final regular season match-up matters little, or that the entire regular season series itself matters little once the playoffs start, but I couldn’t help to feel a little a little concern if the Habs were to face the Leafs in the first round, with four losses in five games against their opponent this season.
• Interesting to note, in the four games in which these two teams have played each other this season, they have combined for 31 players with at least a point, 13 for the Habs and 18 for the Leafs.
• David Desharnais has the most points against this Leafs this season with three assists. Max Pacioretty and Brian Gionta both have two goals while Brendan Gallagher, the only other Canadien with more than a point against the Leafs this season has a goal and an assist.
• For the Leafs, Phil Kessel leads all Leafs’ players this season against the Canadiens with two goals and five assists for seven points. Tyler Bozak has the most goals with three while Dion Phaneuf (two goals and two assists), Jay McClement (one goal and three assists) and James van Riemsdyk (one goal and three assists) all have four points.
• This will be an interesting final regular season game, with both teams possibly playing against each other in the first round of these playoffs.

► Fix it, rookie / Challenge Accepted: 

• In Thursday’s GameDay, prior to the Habs visiting the Jets, we wrote about the Montreal Canadiens defensive struggles, especially since Alexei Emelin was knocked out of the lineup. The Canadiens have really been missing some grit and toughness on the blue line, while defensemen such as Andrei Markov, Josh Gorges and Franky Bouillon have appeared to be running on empty for the past little while.
• We also wrote about how Michel Therrien was putting the burden of bringing back some of that toughness on young rookie, Jarred Tinordi who would be inserted into the lineup that night.
• Tinordi did not disappoint.
• In only his seventh game this season, he racked up 15:40 in total ice-time, 1:40 of which was on the penalty kill. He picked up his second assist of the season on a goal by Brendan Gallagher, finished the night at +1 and lead all players in the game with 7 hits. The rookie stepped it up and maybe we have our Hal Gill replacement after all.
• It’s still a little concerning that the Canadiens have to turn to a 21-year old rookie to add a missing element of toughness on the blue line, but if that’s what they need to do, i’m all for Tinordi being in the lineup for the playoffs.
• Therrien, your move.

► Norris Trophy-Watch:

• On Thursday night, P.K. Subban picked up two assists and has regained the lead for most points amongst NHL defensemen with 38.
• On top of Subban, the names that appear to come back the most as Norris candidates are the following:

Potential Norris Trophy Candidates:

Player	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	PP	TOI/G
P.K. Subban	MTL	41	11	27	38	10	53	7	23:12
Kris Letang	PIT	34	5	31	36	13	8	1	25:41
Ryan Suter	MIN	47	4	28	32	0	24	3	27:09
Mike Green	WAS	34	10	13	23	-2	18	2	24:49

Legend: GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; PTS = Points; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; PP = Powerplay Points; TOI/G = Time on ice per game.

• In 41 games so far this season, P.K. not only leads all defensemen in the league with 38 points but his 11 goals are also best in the league, one more than both Keith Yandle of the Phoenix Coyotes and Mike Green of the Washington Capitals of both have 10. Subban’s seven powerplay points are second to teammate Andrei Markov’s eight.
• Mike Green appears to be getting some nods for his 23 points in only 34 games, helping the Caps with their second-half season push into the playoffs.
• It leaves me a little more impressed with Letang who has 13 more points in as many games. Letang leads all defensemen in assists with 31 and has a whimsy 8 minutes in penalty.
• Ryan Suter leads all defensemen in time on ice per game, averaging 27:09 per game and playing in all 47 games his team has played so far this season.
• It will be interesting to see who wins the trophy. My symbolic vote remains with Subban who I feel has had the most impact on his team’s success.

► Rookie Watch:

• Thursday night against the Jets, Brendan Gallagher scored his 14th goal of the season, tying him with Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers and now Nail Yakupov of the Edmonton Oilers for most goals by a rookie so far this season.
• Alex Galchenyuk on the other hand picked up his 17th assist and is now tied with Cory Conacher of the Ottawa Senators and Brandon Saad of the Chicago Blackhawks for most assists by a rookie so far this season.
• Gallagher now has 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points on the season.
• Galchenyuk moves to 9 goals and 17 assists, also for 26 points on the season.
• They are both tied for fifth in total points amongst rookies in the league.

Top 10 NHL Rookies / Total Points

1. Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA): 14G, 14A, 28PTS
2. Nail Yakupov (EDM): 14G, 14A, 28PTS
3. Cory Conacher (TBL): 11G, 17A, 28PTS
4. Brandon Saad (CHI): 10G, 17A, 27PTS
5. Brendan Gallagher (MTL): 14G, 12A, 26PTS
6. Alex Galchenyuk (MTL): 9G, 17A, 26PTS
7. Justin Schultz (EDM): 7G, 16A, 23PTS
8. Mike Zibanejab (OTT): 7G, 13A, 20PTS
9. Jakob Silfverberg (OTT): 10G, 9A, 19PTS
10. Alex Killorn (TBL): 7G, 12A, 19PTS

Habs vs Jets Game Recap

Coach Michel Therrien:

• “We came to play the game. We had desperation. We had some jam in our game. That’s the team that I saw playing most of the time this season.”
• “[Carey Price] made the difference. He made key saves at the right time. After a few guys turned the puck over he was there to shut the door.”
• “[I told Jarred Tinordi] ‘You have an opportunity. Take it.’  We’re looking for a presence on defense. I want him to be a leader. He played really well.””
• “[Carey Price] has had a great season. He’s our best player. He’s our leader. Again tonight, he was our best player.”

P.K. Subban:

• “Personally, I’m just glad we were able to put together 60 minutes tonight for our goaltender. He’s stood on his head all year for us and I think it’s safe to say that we pretty much left him out to dry over the past five games. He played unbelievable tonight. I don’t think we helped him out as much as we would have liked, but he did the job and made some big saves when he had to and it was great to be able to give him a 60-minute effort.”

Brian Gionta:

• “It’s a big win against a desperate team. It’s huge. Home ice is really big in the playoffs. … You keep forcing plays, you keep being relentless on the puck, eventually they’re going to turn it over and they’re going to get tired and we took advantage in the third.”