About the Canadiens - 03-12-11
A preview of the Canadiens.
When and where: 2 p.m. Consol Energy Center.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh, CBC, RDS.
Record: 37-24-7. The Canadiens are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and second place in the Northeast Division.
Leading Scorer: Tomas Plekanec, 52 points (20 goals, 32 assists).
Last Game: 4-1 road loss to the Blues, Thursday. Carey Price (right) made 23 saves for the Canadiens.
Last Game against the Penguins: 5-2 home loss, Jan. 12. Alex Goligoski had two goals and an assist for the Penguins.
Canadiens Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Benoit Pouliot. He has points in his last three consecutive games against the Penguins.
Ex-Penguins on the Canadiens: Hal Gill, D.
Ex-Canadiens on the Penguins: Arron Asham, RW; Alex Kovalev, RW; Andre Savard, professional scout.
Useless Canadiens Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Former Penguins forward Pierre Larouche holds the Canadiens franchies record for goals by a center. He had 50 in 1979-80.
Best Canadiens Video We Could Find: There was a reason Canadiens fans were upset when their team didn't re-sign Alex Kovalev:
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Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (30-16-5, 2.33 GAA, .919 SV%) for the Penguins and Carey Price (32-22-6, 2.33 GAA, .923 SV%) for the Canadiens.
Injuries: For the Penguins, forwards Arron Asham (concussion), Mike Comrie (hip), Sidney Crosby (concussion), Nick Johnson (concussion), Evgeni Malkin (knee), Eric Tangradi (concussion) and defenseman Brooks Orpik (finger) are on injured reserve. For the Canadiens, defenseman Brent Sopel (hand) is day to day. Forwards Mathieu Darche (groin), Max Pacioretty (head/neck), defensemen Josh Gorges, Andrei Markov (knee) and Jaroslav Spacek ("lower-body) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins's primary lines and defensive pairings against the Sabres Tuesday were:
James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Matt Cooke - Dustin Jeffrey - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Maxime Talbot - Craig Adams
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen - Kris Letang
Ben Lovejoy - Deryk Engelland
Mike Cammalleri - Tomas Plekanec - Jeff Halpern
Benoit Pouliot - Scott Gomez - Brian Gionta
Andrei Kostitsyn - Lars Eller - Travis Moen
Tom Pyatt - David Desharnais - Ryan White
Roman Hamrlik - James Wisniewski
Hal Gill - P.K. Subban
Paul Mara - Alex Picard
Notes:
-Today is expected to be the Penguins' 200th consecutive sell out.
-Cooke has 299 career points.
-Kovalev has 348 career points with the Penguins.
-Letang has 96 career assists.
-The last time these teams played, this happened:
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-Sopel is doubtful to play.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 1 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)