All Habs GameDay: Friday January 20, 2012

On this day in hockey history… 1989 – Mario Lemieux became just the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in less than 50 games. He got #50 in his 44th game of the year, as the Penguins lost 7-3 to the Jets at Winnipeg. 

GAMEDAY: Habs hockey tonight!

MONTREAL CANADIENS (17-21-8) vs. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (25-17-4)

Last 10: Pittsburgh 4-6-0; Montreal 4-5-1

CONSOL Energy Center,  7:00 p.m. EST

TV: RDS, TSN-HABS, NHLN-US, ROOT

Projected line combinations (updated following morning skate)

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Forwards
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Travis Moen – Lars Eller – Andrei Kostitsyn
Rene Bourque – Tomas Plekanec – Mike Blunden
Mathieu Darche – Scott Gomez

Defenseman
Josh Gorges – P.K. Subban
Hal Gill – Yannick Weber
Alexei Emelin – Raphael Diaz
Tomas Kaberle

Goaltenders
Carey Price – Peter Budaj (will start)

Scratches
Chris Campoli – Petteri Nokelainen

Injuries
Ryan White – Andrei Markov – Brian Gionta

Power-play
Pacioretty – Desharnais – Cole – Kaberle – Subban
Bourque – Plekanec – Gomez – Gorges – Weber

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Forwards
Chris Kunitz – Evgeni Malkin – James Neal
Pascal Dupuis – Dustin Jeffrey – Tyler Kennedy
Steve Sullivan – Richard Park – Matt Cooke
Eric Tangradi – Joe Vitale – Craig Adams

Defensemen
Brooks Orpik – Kris Letang
Paul Martin – Zbynek Michalek
Deryk Engelland – Matt Niskanen

Goaltenders
Marc-Andre Fleury – Brent Johnson (probable)

Scratches

Injuries
Sidney Crosby – Jordan Staal – Arron Asham – Simon Despres

GAMEDAY: All Habs Headlines

► Pathetic power-play: The Habs aren’t scoring goals. Fans know it. Carey Price certainly knows it. In their last six games, Montreal has only 10 goals.

The news only gets worse when looking at the Canadiens anemic power-play.  They are last in the league with only a 12.3 success rate with the man advantage.

“We have guys that can move the puck, guys that can shoot, guys that can stand in front of the net and be a good screen. We have all that, but I’d say it’s decision making — to make the plays that are there happen.” — Tomas Plekanec

Read more: Habs look to get the NHL-worst power-play clicking

► Trade deadline chatter: Most expect the Montreal Canadiens to be sellers at the trade deadline.  We’re not entirely convinced that GM Pierre Gauthier has got the memo.  It should be the time when the Habs trade away Travis Moen, Chris Campoli, Hal Gill and David Desharnais.  Less likely to go given their contracts are Tomas Kaberle and Scott Gomez.

Who might be interested?

“I don’t think the math ever changes. The number of teams that think they can add a piece and get there is the same every year, and the pressure on general managers remains the same.” — Brian Burke

Read more: Trade deadline chatter starting to heat up.

► Next Habs GM: The entire league expects that Pierre Gauthier is on his way out of Montreal by the end of the hockey season.  Darren Dreger from TSN has put together a list of potential candidates.  Unfortunately, the names put forward only highlighted the isolation chamber that surrounds the Toronto mainstream sports media.

Several names on the list are simply ridiculous including Jacques Martin, John Ferguson Jr. and Pierre McGuire.

Read more: Many intriguing names if Canadiens need new GM

► New at All Habs:

Separation Anxiety: Fan Drama or Real Tears?

Top Ten Jacques Martin Failed Polygraph Quotes

► Puck’s take: Need to know who will win tonight? @PucktheBunny has his prediction here. His record is an impressive 11-4-2.

(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)