Pregame Preview: Canadiens at Sharks (Game #66)

 
Match Up:

The Canadiens (35-23-7) wrap up their West Coast road trip Saturday night against the Sharks (40-17-7) in San Jose. The game starts at 10:00 pm and airs on RDS and CBC.

This is the second and final meeting between the Habs and Sharks. San Jose earned a 2-0 shutout win at the Bell Centre in October. Logan Couture scored both goals for the Sharks and Patrick Marleau picked up a pair of assists. Anti Niemi made 22 saves, while Carey Price made 35 in the losing effort.

What to Watch:

Thomas Vanek has played one game as a Hab and has yet to earn his first point with the team. He joined the Canadiens Thursday after a long night of travel and with no scheduled practice, the first chance he got to skate with his new teammates was during the game against the Coyotes. Vanek lined up with Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gionta and is expected to stay with those linemates on Saturday.

Joe Pavelski is having a career year in his eighth season as a Shark. Pavelski has already reached a new career high in goals with 32 on the season, and after adding 3 assist against the Penguins Thursday, he's just 4 points shy of his career high, 66. Joe Thornton meanwhile is second in the league in assists with 52. Jumbo Joe has a goal and 4 assists in 5 games since the Olympic break ended.

What's at Stake:

The Canadiens are holding down third spot in the East but they've also played more games than any team in the Conference besides the Islanders. The Leafs and Lightning are hot on the Habs' heels while the Flyers, Red Wings and Rangers aren't very far behind either.

Who's Out:

The Canadiens will be in tough against one of the league's best offenses, they're still missing Carey Price (lower body) and Josh Gorges (hand). Brandon Prust (upper body) and Michael Bournival (concussion) are also out.

The Sharks are without star rookie Tomas Hertl (knee), while Brad Stuart (upper body) has been out since the Olympics and may also miss Saturday's game.

What Else:
With 16 starts and 19 games played this season, Peter Budaj has seen the most action this year since he split starting goalie duties with Craig Anderson in Colorado during the 2010-11 season. While his won/loss ratio isn't as impressive as the 8-1-1 record he posted last season, Budaj has still maintained a respectable .911 save percentage and 2.35 GAA.
The Question Mark:
After Saturday's game the Canadiens will have finished up their toughest stretch stretch of the season and return home with just 16 games left to play. What we want to know from you is: in what place will the Habs will finish the season?
Let us know what you think, leave a comment or send us a tweet by using the #MTLHockey hashtag on Twitter.
Be sure to tune into the Montreal Hockey Talk Pregame Show an hour before the puck drop and the Post Game Show 5 minutes after the final siren. Join the live conversation by using the #MTLHockey hashtag on Twitter.

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Men's Olympic Hockey: Team Canada Exorcises Demons Versus Team Switzerland

In defeating Team Switzerland 3-2 in a shootout, yesterday, Canada pulled one out of the fire.

While early on, the game looked like it was going to be a repeat of Team Canada's 8-0 thumping of Team Norway only two days earlier, things changed quickly for the hometown heroes.

Making the score 2-0 only 35 seconds into the second on goals by Heatley and Marleau the Canadians looked in control. Things changed for Canada, however, when Switzerland scored at 8:59 of the second.

Ivo Ruthemann's bullet of a shot from 40 feet out somehow managed to elude Brodeur even though he saw the puck the whole way. You're not going to score too many goals like that on Brodeur but the Swiss will take it!

That goal gave the Swiss the boost that they needed to turn the tide on the Canadians. It was also at that point that the immense pressure that Canada is under started to show.

While Canada outshot the Swiss 17-8 in the first period, the margin was only 10-9 for Canada in the second as the Swiss took the game to a suddenly reeling Canadian team.

The Swiss continued to fore-check aggressively and were rewarded with the tying goal with 10 seconds left in the second period. Patrick von Gunten threw the puck out front and it banked off of Canada's Patrick Marleau's skate and past Brodeur to send the team to their dressing rooms tied at two.

Canada wasn't discouraged however, throwing everything they had at the Swiss in the third. Switzerland's goaltender, Jonas Hiller, was equal to the task however as he made save after spectacular save to hold off the Canadian onslaught.

Hiller had fans remembering about how the Canadian team was stoned by Switzerland's Martin Gerber, only four years prior, in Turin, as Canada lost 2-0. That loss was the beginning of the end for a Canadian that would ultimately finish seventh in the 2006 Olympics and out of the medals.

Hiller's heroics continued to be on display as he made 18 saves in the third period to send the game to overtime.

Overtime failed to solve anything and it was up to the two goaltenders to decide the fate of the game in the shootout.

After neither team was able to score on their three shootout chances -- including Hiller's saves on Crosby, Toews and Getzlaf -- the Canadians sent Crobsy out again, to take the fourth shot.

As an aside, you should know that in international ice hockey, unlike the NHL, teams can repeat shooters after the third man has taken his shot. As such, Babcock gave Crosby another crack at it.

They say that you win with your best and you lose with your best and Babcock must have known that Crosby, who was held off the score sheet and had a frustrating game, wanted to be a difference maker. He wanted that goal and he wanted the win.

The look in his eyes, as he skated to the puck at center ice, was of a focused young man who had had enough.

This time, instead of trying a deke, Crosby did a quick fake and fired a wrister past Hiller on the short stick side. That left it up to Brodeur to stop Switzerland's Domenichelli, which he did as the Swiss player tried to go up high glove side.

The save won the game for Canada and allowed fans in attendance and watching on TV to breath a sigh of relief.

By almost duplicating their effort of four years earlier, against Canada, Team Switzerland continued to show that while they are not yet part of the top six international teams -- Canada, USA, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic -- they are certainly not far behind.

Almost more importantly than the win, for Canada, was the fact they have seemed to have exorcised their shootout demons from Turin. In addition, maybe this game provided the Canadian team with that little bit of adversity that they needed to really bump their game into gear.

There is no question that the Canadian team still has a lot of things to improve on, but we must give credit where credit is due in acknowledging that the Swiss hockey program is one that seems on the cusp of greatness.

Up next for Canada is the greatly anticipated Sunday game versus the United States. The US currently has one more point in the standings (six) than Canada (five) in virtue of their 6-1 regulation win over Norway.

Sunday's game will decide the winner of the Group A pool and determine the placement going forward into the elimination rounds. So hold onto your hats, ladies and gentleman, because Sunday's game could be one for the ages.

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