All Habs Headlines: Thursday December 17, 2015
	On this day in hockey history… 1935 — The Canadiens and Rangers skated to a 1-1 tie, in the 500th NHL game for five of the Ranger originals. The Cook brothers, Frank Boucher, Ching Johnson and Murray Murdoch were all presented with suitcases to honor the occasion.  1964 — Montreal’s Gilles Tremblay broke his leg when checked into the boards by Leafs’ rookie Ron Ellis, and missed the remainder of the 1964-65 season. Montreal tied Toronto 2-2 at the Forum.  1990 — Buffalo Sabres traded their captain, Mike Foligno to the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Lou Franceschetti and Brian Curran.
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► Game day!

• After flying in on Tuesday the L.A. Kings are going to be facing off versus the Canadiens in a battle of two division leading clubs. You can find our Game Day preview for the matchup here: GAME DAY | Kings – Canadiens: Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy
• Sven Andrighetto was moved up to the second line to reunite with Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller; all three players have been on a dry spell of late after the trios were put in a blender.
• With Andrighetto’ “promotion,” Dale Weise was returned to a line with David Desharnais and Tomas Fleischmann.
• Nathan Beaulieu practiced with P.K. Subban on the top pairing following Tuesday night’ game against the Sharks where the two were partnered.
• After a tough night for both Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban, Markov was paired up with Tom Gilbert on second pairing with Jeff Petry and Alexei Emelin remaining untouched on the second pair.
• The Canadiens only managed to post one goal against the San Jose Sharks and subsequently lost the game 3-1. You can read our game recap here: RECAP | Sharks – Canadiens: Habs Goal-Scoring Well Gone Dry
• It was quite a series for Mike McCarron as he led the Ice Caps to a series sweep over the Albany Devils. McCarron scored the game winning goal on Tuesday night and a hat trick in Wednesday’s game. You can read both recaps here: RECAP | Devils – IceCaps: Early Lead, Strong Finish and RECAP | Devils – IceCaps: McCarron Scores Hat Trick, ‘Caps Sweep Series.

Forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders from Wednesday’s practice

Pacioretty – Plekanec – Byron
Eller – Galchenyuk – Andrighetto
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Carr / Hudon – Mitchell – Flynn

Beaulieu – Subban
Emelin – Petry
Markov – Gilbert
Tinordi – Pateryn

Condon
Tokarski

► Thomas to Arizona, Lessio to St. John’s

• The Canadiens have swung a deal to send Christian Thomas on his way to Glendale in exchange for Lucas Lessio, a former second round pick in 2011.
• Lessio was assigned to the St. John’s IceCaps. Playing on the IceCaps top line on Wednesday night, Lessio picked up an assist in his first shift.
• Lessio scored 34 goals with the Oshawa Generals back in 2011-12 and was once pace to do the same the next season but suffered an injury; he would’ve been on pace for 35 goals had he played all season.
• In 2013-14, the former 56th overall pick scored 29 goals in 69 games, the next season Lessio found the back of the net 15 times, however in only 49 games. This season he has seven goals in 24 games.
• He’s played 29 career games in the NHL, he has pair of goals and five points.
• Thomas has 14 points in 18 games and has a goal and three assists in 26 games in his NHL career.

► Price wins Lou Marsh Award

• After his resplendent 2014-15 campaign Carey Price has been given yet another award that might be the greatest one he’s received to date.
• The Hart, Vezina, Lindsay and Jennings award winner was selected as Canada’s best athlete; Carey Price has won the 2015 Lou Marsh Award.
• Price is only the 13th hockey player to receive the award since its inauguration in 1936 and is the first goaltender ever to be the trophy’s recipient.
• Last season, Price set the Canadiens franchise record with 44 victories; he also had a league-leading 1.96 goals against average and a .933 save percentage.
• In the 12 games he’s played this season prior to and between injuries Price had a darling 2.06 goals against average and a .934 save percentage along with 10 wins.

► Price’s recovery still on track

• At the Lou Marsh award press conference Price was inexorably asked about the injury that’s second reincarnation has kept him out for under a month so far.
• “I am feeling well just to get the elephant out of the room. The time line remains the same to return,”the Hart winner told the media following the announcement. “Time heals all wounds.”
• He also noted that there would nevertheless not be any need for surgery on his “lower-body” injury.
• Price was off to a torrent start prior to going down for the second time against the New York Rangers, but Mike Condon has played in seven more games than the all-star, recording nine wins and posting a .912 save percentage.
• The netminder was honored at the Habs game on Tuesday night and had a rare flagrant reaction to the crowd.

► Ward was on the Habs’ radar

• Most were surprised when the Canadiens didn’t go out and sign a free agent to fill the void the team had on its right wing but most presumed Marc Bergevin was putting his calls in. He was.
• Joel Ward was a free agent this offseason after spending the past couple seasons with the Capitals and, despite other offers, he ended up signing in San Jose “Just like some other teams, the Canadiens showed interest. […] The key for me was to find a team that would best suit my style and my role.”
• “It was probably done with other players, the Canadiens surveyed my interest. But, I didn’t have a personal discussion either with or Marc Bergevin Michel Therrien,” he told TVA Sports. “Talking to the coach and understanding what he expected of me made my decision much easier.”

► Call me Denzel

• The attack on the English language in Quebec is well documented. In the latest salvo, the Association pour le soutien et l’usage de la langue française (ASULF) has demanded that hockey broadcasters and analysts cease calling the Canadiens defenceman “Pee-Kay” Subban instead pronouncing his first name as “Pay-Kah.”
• Subban responded to the ‘controversy’ saying “Since we’re changing the pronunciation of my name and stuff, just start calling me ‘Denzel’. Why not?”
• The ASULF also wantsg to replace the expression “tailgate” with “rendez-vous d’avant match.”

► Bennett out 4-6 weeks

• The Pittsburgh Penguins have been horrendous this season, particularly with their firepower upfront, and their main point of concern has taken another hit.
• The Penguins will be without former first round pick Beau Bennett for the next four-six weeks following an “upper-body” injury he, reportedly, suffered against the Washington Capitals.
• He was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday.
• Bennett has yet to translate his abundant offensive abilities to NHL box scores, only chronicling 15 goals and 43 points in 120 career games.
• This season he’s totalled five goals, his career-high, and ten points in 24 games, two points off of his career high.

► ‘Yotes lose Smith for 8-10 weeks

• The Arizona Coyotes will have Mike Smith astray from the team for eight-10 weeks following surgery to repair a “core muscle injury” that he sustained in St. Louis last Tuesday night.
• He was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday following a week of not seeing any game action.
• He was having another prosaic season in the desert with a 3.06 goals against average and .901 along with a 10-9-6 record on a Coyotes team that, despite manifold holes up and down their lineup, find themselves in the thick of a playoff race in a horrific division.
• Taking his spot will be Anders Lindback but ‘Yotes general manager Don Maloney noted that the team is, regardless, searching for another netminder through the trade market.

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