About the Canadiens - 01-12-11
A preview of the Canadiens.
When and where: 7:30 p.m., Bell Centre.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh, TSN, RDS.
Record: 24-16-3, 51 points. The Canadiens are in second place in the Northeast Division and seventh place in the Eastern Conference
Leading Scorer: Tomas Plekanec, 33 points (12 goals, 21 assists).
Last Game: 2-1 road win against the Rangers, last night. Alex Auld made 25 saves for the Canadiens.
Last Game against the Penguins: 2-1 shootout home win, Thursday. Arron Asham scored for the Penguins.
Canadiens Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Mathieu Darche. He has points in his last two regular season games against the Penguins.
Ex-Penguins on the Canadiens: Hal Gill (above), D.
Ex-Canadiens on the Penguins: Arron Asham, RW; Andre Savard, professional scout.
Useless Canadiens Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The only Penguin to score on a penalty shot against the Canadiens was forward Jock Callendar. He scored on goaltender Patrick Roy in an 7-2 Canadiens win at the Civic Arena, March 18, 1989.
Best Canadiens Video We Could Find: Canadiens legend Maurice "Rocket" Richard shilling for Grecian Formula:
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Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (18-11-2, 2.31 GAA, .919 SV%) for the Penguins and Carey Price (21-14-3, 2.31 GAA, .921 SV%) for the Canadiens.
Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Sidney Crosby (concussion) is out. Forwards Mike Comrie (hip), Eric Godard (nose) and defenseman Alex Grant (wrist) are on injured reserve. For the Canadiens, forward Mike Cammalleri (illness) is questionable. Defensemen Josh Gorges (knee) and Andrei Markov (knee) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins primary lines and defensive pairings at practice yesterday were:
Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Chris Conner - Max Talbot - Mike Rupp
Craig Adams - Mark Letestu - Arron Asham/Dustin Jeffrey
Their primary defensive pairings against the Bruins Monday were:
Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Derryk Engelland
-The Canadiens primary lines and defensive pairings against the Rangers last night were:
Lars Eller - Tomas Plekanec - Andrei Kostitsyn
Max Pacioretty - Scott Gomez - Brian Gionta
Benoit Pouliot - David Desharnais - Mathieu Darche
Travis Moen - Tom Pyatt - Jeff Halpern
Hal Gill - P.K. Subban
Roman Hamrlik - James Wisniewski
Jaroslav Spacek - Yannick Weber
Notes:
-"For whatever reason, we are not playing our game." - Zbynek Michalek.
-Talbot has 49 career goals, 49 career assists and 98 career points.
-The Canadiens enter tonight's contest with a three-game winning streak.
-Pacioretty has appeared in 99 career games.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 7:30 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)