Ryan White will miss tonight's game after suffering a lower
body injury in Thurday's 5-2 win over the Islanders.
The Montreal Canadiens are back at it tonight gettting another crack at the Buffalo Sabres in Montreal. It is the final of four meetings between the two teams with the Sabres winning two of them including a 3-2 overtime win over the Habs just four nights back.
Both teams are coming off of victories since their last meeting with the Sabres edging the Maple Leafs 5-4 in shoot outs and the Habs finally solving the Islanders with a convincing 5-2 win on Thursday night.
Ryan White will be out of the line up with a lower body injury and while Rene Bourque and Brandon Prust are nearing their return, neither are expected to play tonight. Michael Blunden has been called up from Hamilton to replace White.
- Former Caadien Alex Kovalev retired this week putting an end to his career that saw him play 1,316 NHL games and win the cup with the New York Rangers in 1994.
Our beloved Habs, fresh off a lacklustre performance on Saturday against the Leafs, brought their A game last night, beating the Florida Panthers 4-1. The Canadiens were led by Andrei Markov, who scored two power play goals, his first tallies in over two years.
Rookie centre Alex Galchenyuk, who centered the Habs' third line alongside Brandon Prust and Brendan Gallagher, scored his first career NHL goal. Gallagher tallied his first career point on the play.
Many were questioning the removal of Lars Eller from the lineup, but Galchenyuk's performance, which earned him the first star of the game, brought the capacity crowd to its feet and quickly silenced the naysayers. It was obvious through his performance that the Canadiens' 2012 third-round pick was right at home playing the centre position.
The team's character was also in evidence when Ryan White threw a couple of punches at the Panthers' Thomas Fleischman after he hit Josh Gorges from behind. While the altercation earned White an instigator penalty and ejection, no one criticized that fourth liners for coming to the defence of one of his teammates.
Kevin Dineen, the head coach of the Panthers, started Scott Clemmenson in goal versus the Canadiens. Coming into the game, Clemmenson boast a flawless 6-0 career record versus "Les Glorieux."
The Canadiens are next in action on Thursday night, as they travel to Washington to take on Alex Ovechkin and the still winless Capitals.
- With Vancouver GM Mike Gillis' comments yesterday about a possible deal being close for trading goaltender Roberto Luongo, rumbling out of Toronto suggest that the "additional player" in the deal may be either Joffrey Lupul, who just signed a five-year extension with the Leafs, or Phil Kessel, who has lost favour with head coach Randy Carlyle.
- While we already knew sports merchandise sales were down during the NHL lockout, SportsPosterWarehouse.com posted some interesting stats in regards to how overall poster sales were affected. Hopefully, business is about to pick up.
Scott Gomez has been told he's no longer in the Canadiens plans
The NHL has returned, Brian Burke has been fired and Scott Gomez was told by Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin to stay home. What a week to be a Habs fan. Okay fine, the Burke thing doesn't really have anything to do with the Habs, but when a Toronto GM or coach - or anyone in any position really - loses their job, you can't help but give them a ribbing.
To be honest, Habs' fans shouldn't even be too happy about ol'Burkie being given the boot. Burke failed to make the Leafs a playoff team throughout his tenure and made a number of questionable moves. Signing Komisarek for four years at $4.5 million didn't pan out so well. Jeff Finger was signed to four years as well for $3.5 million with only 94 NHL games under his belt. Signing Mikhail Grabovski for $27.5 million over the course of five years seems a little excessive, and of course there's the infamous Kessel deal.
So in hindsight, the Leafs can really only improve with Burke no longer at the helm, so that bit of news can be put in the negative column, along with Erik Cole's current fit over the new CBA.
I won't spend too much time on the Cole topic, but I will quickly touch on it. The Habs can't afford to lose Cole to retirement just yet, but, at the same time, they could do without his current behaviour. Sure, you may not get the full amount you signed for, but you still get millions. NHL fans around the league had to miss out on half of a season because of a monetary dispute between billionares and millionires. Now that it's been settled, nobody has any patience to hear any more whining.
Now onto Gomez.
During his time in Montreal, I haven't been as hard on him as the majority of fans have been. Why not? It's simple. Nobody would turn down the money he's been earning. If you yourself would say no to that contract, then you can complain all you want, but you wouldn't, so don't kid yourself.
His contract has handcuffed Canadiens' management over the years, and that's a fact. His play last season left much to be desired. For those two reasons alone, the Habs will be better off without him. He will be paid this season and count against the cap, but let's be honest, this season hardly even counts.
Gomez has been a class act during his three seasons with Montreal. Although he has bundles of cash to keep him company at home, I can't help but feel a little bad for the guy. It's never good for anyone's self esteem to be told that you're not in your team's plans anymore. A tough blow to one's pride for sure.
One thing's for sure, Bergevin is just a P.K. Subban signing away from being the most loved man in Montreal.
Could Gomez's absence be a sign that there's a spot for Galchenyuk on the roster?
With David Desharnais, Tomas Plekanec and Lars Eller down the middle it's hard to imagine Galchenyuk playing center. No point in bringing him up for fourth line minutes, but it wouldn't hurt to put him on a wing alongside Plekanec and....
(Bear with me here for a moment. This next bit is strictly meant for conversational purposes. I am not starting a rumor I am just throwing out a "What if?" type of scenario)
Alex Kovalev
Ever since leaving Montreal, Kovalev has made it clear that he regrets leaving and would love to return. I haven't been much of a fan of the concept of his possible return either.
There is no doubt that Kovy was the most exciting player to don the CH since Guy Lafleur. The problem with AK27 was his presence, or lack thereof. Kovalev showed up for half a season.
Half a season, eh? Seeing as we find ourselves with only half a season to play would it be so bad to have Kovalev back?
The obvious upside would be having him play with Andrei Markov on the team's top power play unit, but that's not what got me to start thinking about this whole idea. Can you imagine having Plekanec play in between Kovalev and Galchenyuk?
Kovalev and Pleky have played together before and enjoyed great success. Kovy finished the season with 82 points and Plekanec finished with 69 points, his second higest point total in his career. The other member of that line was Andrei Kostitsyn, who finished with 26 goals and 27 assists for 53 points. He has yet to top any of those stats.
I'm not saying Galchenyuk would get Kostistyn type totals, however it would be at least interesting to see him play top line minutes with two linemates with as much talent as Plekanec and Kovalev. And to be fair, isn't it about time Plekanec is given some support?
Again let me reiterate that this is strictly hypothetical. Kovalev has been invited to the Florida Panthers' camp for a tryout and Rene Bourque will be given a fair chance to prove his worth. Besides those points, Kovalev doesn't strike me as the type of player that Bergevin is after.
So while it isn't exactly a possibility I still think it would make for an exciting combination on the ice for the Habs.
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Sean is a freelance writer currently contributing to <a href="http://www.HabsAddict.com" target="_blank">HabsAddict.com</a>. He is also a regular blogger and frequent panelist on the Habs post game show at <a href="http://www.MontrealHockeyTalk.com" target="_blank">MontrealHockeyTalk.com</a>
You can follow Sean on <a href="http://twitter.com/SeanLloyd93" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.
On a day where nobody was expecting any type of progress in the NHL labour negotiations, it seems that some kind of headway has been made.
Both sides were reported as being cautiously optimistic , as far as any progress in yesterday's meetings were concerned. While no details have been released about the meetings, things went so well that the NHLPA held a conference call with it's members during the dinner break.
Players and owners are scheduled to meet again this morning at 9 AM, prior to the 11 AM NHL Board of Governors meetings. Gary Bettman is scheduled to speak to the media at 1 PM, however that may be delayed should there be further talks between the two sides.
by Louis Moustakas With the offseason quietly winding down and summer transactions mostly behind us, it seems like the perfect time to contemplate the moves made by Montreal and its various division rivals. Over five parts, we will take a look at each team and venture a guess at where they will finish in 2011-12. Today, we take a look at a rival just down the 417, the Ottawa Senators. Last season: 32-40-10, 74 points (fifth place Northeast, 13th place East)
Additions: Alex Auld, G; Tim Conboy, D; Nikita Filatov, LW; Zenon Konopka, C; Mike McKenna, G; Mark Parrish, RW
Subtractions: Cody Bass, C; Andre Benoit, D; Ryan Keller, RW; Alex Kovalev, RW; Pascal Leclaire, G;Curtis McElhinney, G; Ryan Shannon, RW; Derek Smith, D; Roman Wick, RW
Last season saw the Senators contend with a group of underwhelming veterans and unproven youth. Netminders Pascale Leclaire, when healthy and Brian Elliot were mediocre at best. Offensively, the Russian duo of Alexei Kovalev and Sergei Gonchar were especially disappointing, each providing a paltry 27 points. Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek and Daniel Alfredsson produced at fairly respectable paces, but all missed considerable time due to injuries. In the end, youth such as Nick Foligno, Peter Regin, Erik Condra, Bobby Butler, Zack Smith and Colin Greening were asked to carry an important portion of the offensive load. At the onset of 2011-12, a youth movement is clearly underway in the Capital. The aforementioned Condra, Bobby Butler, Zack Smith and Colin Greening have all been granted one-way contracts and will join the likes of Erik Karlsson, Nikita Filatov and Stephane Da Costa in Ottawa.
The above group of youngsters is intriguing and certainly possesses great potential, but like Edmonton out west, will be prone to many of the mistakes that come with inexperience. In addition, with the recent losses of Chris Campoli, Mike Fisher, Jarko Ruutu, Ryan Shannon, Chris Kelly and, yes, even Alexei Kovalev, they will not be protected by an experienced veteran core. Chris Phillips and Daniel Alfredsson are solid players, but their age is visibly catching up to them.
Craig Anderson was excellent upon his arrival in Ottawa, but he remains a question mark. Prior to his move, he posted a pedestrian .897 save percentage in Colorado and, except for the 2009-10 campaign, has little experience as a starter. Regardless, it is likely that he will at least provide more stable goaltending than the duo of Leclaire and Elliot.
The Senators should be high-energy and difficult to play against, but they do not look to be a winning team. Not yet.
Prediction: 5th in the Northeast Division.
What do you think? Where will the Senators finish next season?
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Louis is an editor at HabsWorld.net and has been writing about Canadiens and NHL hockey since 2009. Louis was born in Chicago but grew up in Quebec City where he earned Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Université Laval. He currently lives in Ottawa and works for the Coaching Association of Canada. He can be reached at l.moustakas@habsworld.net.
The Ottawa Senators have been having a rough time of things lately with star forwards Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson each having gone seven games without a point. In addition, Alex Kovalev—whose name has been circulating in rumours as a possible trade acquisition target by the Montreal Canadiens—has gone five games without a point. It's no wonder then that the Sens are currently outside looking in on the playoff picture.
The Canadiens, riding a two-game winning streak, showed no mercy for their struggling opponent, dominating the neutral zone to outshooting the Senators 13-6 in the first period. Michael Cammalleri opened the scoring on the power play when he picked up his own rebound and put it high past Pascal Leclaire. The goal marked the 19th time the Habs have scored the first goal in 28th games.
Their record when scoring first now stands at 16-2-1.
A Habs turnover on a late first period power play allowed the Sens to tie it up with nine seconds to play. With an assist on the goal, Jason Spezza finally broke his seven-game pointless drought.
Unfortunately for the Canadiens, they stopped skating in the second period and allowed the Sens to dominate play. In addition, they fired blanks on a five-minute and four-minute power play, handing the momentum over to the Sens.
These big penalty kills swung the momentum towards the Senators but Carey Price was there to ensure his teammates didn't fall behind, as they were being outshot 13-9 in the second frame.
The Habs started skating again in the third and broke the 1-1 tie on a brilliant individual effort from Jeff Halpern. That goal seemed to put the Sens back on their heels and the Habs responded by potting two more goals in the third to seal the deal.
Final score: Habs 4 - Sens 1
Habs' scorers: Michael Cammalleri (9), Jeff Halpern (6), Brian Gionta (9), Roman Hamrlik (3)
Sens' scorers: Nick Foligno (2)
Three stars: 1. Michael Cammalleri, 2. Brian Gionta, 3. Jeff Halpern
Game Notes
1. Oops, Price did it again.
While Carey wasn't tested much over the first twenty minutes of play, he had to be solid during a second period where the Sens were outshooting the Habs 13-9. As the Sens seized the momentum off of two strong PKs and dominated play through the neutral zone, the reeling Habs allowed the Sens to barrage their netminder for 13 shots.
But Price, the iceman, was calm, cool and collected, as he has been all season, turning aside shots, swallowing pucks and letting out nary a rebound. The positionally-solid Price forced the swarming Sens to mostly hit him right in the crest with the puck.
Even a little physical contact and crease crashing by the Sens was not enough to throw Price off of his game, and he was even seen yapping at the Ottawa players after making a few great saves, a la Patrick Roy. This is a player who is in full possession of all of his faculties and is completely dominating the league as a result.
Price's GAA and save percentages are both third among all starters at a sparkling 1.92 and .936, respectively. In addition, the win was Price's 17th of the season in 26 starts, first among all goaltenders.
Is now a good time to start including Price's name in the Vezina and Hart trophy discussions?
2. Michael Cammalleri was the Habs best player.
With one goal, five shots on net and 18:43 of ice time, Cammalleri was the Habs best player not named Carey Price last night. He was all over the ice, combative, aggressive around the net and looked like the Michael Cammalleri who was tearing up the ice during the 2010 playoffs.
Driving to the net and working some stick handling magic, Cammalleri was a sparkplug on the second line and showed that "never quit" attitude that he's been missing since being teamed up with Scott Gomez.
While Cammalleri played some excellent hockey the weakness of his linemates was still evident. Cammalleri sprung Travis Moen clear in front of the Senators goalie with a beautiful pass, but Moen wasn't even able to get a shot off, let alone score.
The play illustrated the dire need for a scoring winger to play on that line.
Despite their recent struggles, the Cammalleri-Gomez-Moen line actually played one of their best games together until Gomez left the game with a lower-body injury in the second.
With Gomez now listed as day-to-day it will be interesting to see how Jacques Martin composes his lines going forward. Given the strength of the third line with Lars Eller, logic would dictate that Jeff Halpern, who scored a beautiful goal last night, will get the spot. But Jacques Martin doesn't always do what I feel is logical, so who really knows.
3. Brian Gionta has really come back to life.
With two points (1G, 1A) four shots on net and a plus-2, Gionta now has seven points (4G, 3A) and a plus-4 rating over his last seven games. While he struggled at the beginning of the season playing with Gomez, rather than withering away, he put his head down and worked his butt off. The points weren't coming and he was getting frustrated, but he was still doing the little things right to help his team win.
Since being switched to the Tomas Plekanec line, however, Gionta has rediscovered his scoring touch and has eight of his nine goals in the last 15 games. Add to that the fact that he is still leading by his quiet, hardworking example and you have a player who is a true leader on this team.
4. The Habs have surprising scoring depth.
The boon for the Canadiens and the secret to their scoring success has been the contributions from all four lines. While the Habs' second line has struggled—largely due to Gomez's ineffectiveness and Travis Moen's lack of top-six skills—the Canadiens have a bevy of players contributing on the scoreboard.
After last night's game, the Habs now have four players who have scored nine goals—Plekanec, Gionta, Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitsyn—and are each on pace to score 26 this season. In addition, Benoit Pouliot has six goals and is on pace to score 18 this season—all of this from the third line while averaging 11:55 of ice time. Jeff Halpern too has been getting in on the action, scoring his fifth goal last night and is on pace to pot 15 this season—while averaging 13:16 of ice time.
Finally, each with four goals scored so far, both Maxim Lapierre and Scott Gomez are on pace to score at least 12 goals. Add it all up and the Canadiens currently have eight players who are on pace to score at least 12 goals, six on pace to score at least 15 and four that are on pace to score 25 or more.
When the Habs won the cup in 1993, they had 13 players who scored 10 or more, 11 who scored 12 or more, seven who scored 15 or more, four who scored 20 or more and two who score 30 or more.
While the current edition of the Habs are not quite at the depth level of the 1993 Stanley Cup Champions, if they can find a bonafide top-six scoring forward to play on the second line while still leading the league in goals against, the Habs will continue to be a top-tier team in the NHL.
5. Scott Gomez was injured last night, so now what?
Fans' wishes to no longer have Scott Gomez centering the second line came true last night when he left the game with a lower-body injury. Gomez went to the dressing room near the end of the first period, player two shifts in the second and was done for the night.
There is no official word on the extent or nature of the injury except that it is to his lower-body, likely his back, and Gomez is listed as day-to-day. While in theory, it is good that someone else will get a shot at centering the second line, in a way it was kind of unfortunate, because for a rare occasion the Gomez line was actually playing like a cohesive unit last night.
Jeff Halpern seems to be the heir apparent to the second line and not a moment too soon. I mean isn't it about time Canadiens management found a center to play with Cammalleri?
There is a slight temptation is see what Lars Eller can do playing on the second line and, perhaps even let him bring his winger, Benoit Pouliot with him. That being said, he has slowly been progressing well and I would be surprised if Martin decided to vault him into the top-six.
Another interesting option that was discussed on RDS's L'Anti-chambre last night, was to bring up both David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty from Hamilton. Both players have been playing together in the AHL, have great chemistry and are absolutely tearing it up.
While they clearly deserve a shot at the NHL level, the Habs seem to be taking a more cautious approach with young players of late. I personally have no problem with that and think that maybe it is a sign that Habs' management has learned from the errors of rushing too many young players through the system.
Either way you have to think that Pacioretty seems destined for a tryout on the Habs second line. All that remains to be seen is at what point of the season that will happen. If I was a betting man, which I'm not, I wouldn't anticipate Pacioretty getting a chance before the new year.
Standings and Next Game
The Habs are now riding a three-game winning streak, have an 18-8-2 record and 38 points in the standings. They are currently tied for third overall in the East with the Flyers, but sit in third in conference standings in virtue of their first place overall in the Northeast division.
The Boston Bruins are five points back of the Canadiens with two games in hand.
The Canadiens will enjoy two days off before perhaps their biggest test of the season: a Friday night matchup against the Detroit Red Wings, in Detroit. The Red Wings are 10-2-2 at Joe Louis Arena this season, so it will be no easy feat for the Habs.
Who will be the second line center? Will P.K. Subban be back in the lineup? Are the Habs ready to call up a player from Hamilton?
Tune in Friday to find out.
Sunday Shinny on The Team 990
A quick footnote to let you all know that I now have a regular radio segment on the Team 990 (http://www.team990.com) every Sunday from 8 am - 9am, on The Franchise Montreal Weekend morning show.
The segment is called Sunday Shinny with Gary Whittaker, Nick Murdocco, Amanda Stein and yours truly. We will be reviewing the Montreal Canadiens but also looking at happenings around the league.
Tune in on Sundays and send me your feedback!
(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)
What's the opposite of a well-oiled machine? A broken-down rustbucket?
If so, then that's what the Canadiens are playing like right now. A broken-down rustbucket.
As the Canadiens took on the Ottawa Senators in Montreal last night, you were hoping for a return to the kind of tenacious play that had made them so successful over the first 10 games of the season.
Instead, they looked tired and disorganized as they watched Ottawa take the play to them for most of the night.
Right now, it seems that very little is going right for the Canadiens.
Their defensive pairings are not working, none of the Canadiens goal-scorers are able to score, players who are known to be defensively responsible, like Scott Gomez, are making mistake after mistake and the power play continues to be a laughingstock—3-for-47, 30th overall in the NHL.
From the top to the bottom of their lineup, the Habs are misfiring, and the result was another half-hearted, disorganized loss to the Senators last night.
To their credit, the Sens are playing much better than during the first 10 or so games of the season. They took advantage of a porous Montreal defensive squad and outshot the Canadiens, 25-15, after two periods, 31-23 on the night.
The only reason this game wasn't over in the second period was because of the scintillating play of Carey Price.
The Habs had their chances, mind you, as the lack of physicality in the game allowed them to employ an effective cycle based off their speed and skill. But when they did have good scoring chances, Brian Elliott was there to shut the door.
Final score: Sens 3, Habs 2
Habs' scorers: Jaroslav Spacek (1), Brian Gionta (2)
Sens' scorers: Alex Kovalev (4, 5), Zack Smith (2)
Three Stars: 1. Alex Kovalev, 2. Carey Price, 3. Brian Elliott
Game Notes
1. It's Time To Send Lars Eller to Hamilton
I'm sorry, but a player as promising as Eller needs to be playing more minutes and absolutely cannot be wasted in the press box as he was last night. If the coach doesn't see him fitting into the lineup, then send him down to Hamilton and let him play top-line minutes. This will help him to continue seasoning.
If Jacques Martin, who does not have the best reputation of bringing along young players, is going to give Eller the press box treatment, then the latter should not be playing in Montreal.
This past week, Habs prospect Max Pacioretty came out publicly on Montreal airwaves (Team 990) to say that if he is was going to play in the top six with the Habs, he'd rather play the whole season in Hamilton.
Pacioretty went on to say that every time he made a mistake last year, he was demoted or put in the press box, and that hurt his confidence.
This is exactly the same treatment that Eller is getting from the wise old coach, right now, and I fear that it will do more damage than good. As such, I would rather the Habs send Eller to Hamilton and bring up a David Desharnais or Ryan White.
Please, oh please, Jacques Martin, don't destroy another promising prospect!
2. Price Was the Unsung Hero of the Game
When the Canadiens legs went to sleep in the second period and the Sens were blitzing the offensive zone, Price was the difference-maker. His excellent play kept the score close long enough for the Habs to climb back into things with a fluky, late second-period goal.
Price kept his teammates in the game again last night and gave them an opportunity to win the game.
But when Tomas Plekanec couldn't score on a short-handed break with the Habs trailing by a goal, the game was lost. On the ensuing play in the Canadiens zone, Kovalev scored his second of the game on what would end up being the winning goal.
3. Brian Gionta Was Better but Michael Cammalleri Was Worse
Gionta had more jump to his game, as he seemed to be skating with a sense of liberation on the Tomas Plekanec line, and he was rewarded with his second goal of the season late in the third period.
The goal was a bit of a lucky one on a shot from the outside that seemed to go through Elliott. But he'll take the goal and cross his fingers that it will dislodge that monkey's firm grip on his back.
The bigger problem for the Canadiens, right now, is that Gionta and Gomez's lethargy seems to have rubbed off on Andrei Kostitsyn and Michael Cammalleri.
AK46 has zero points and a minus-4 rating over his last five games, while Cammalleri has only two assists over his last six games.
Add that to Gionta's one goal and one assist in his last nine, and Gomez's one goal and two assists over 14 games, and you see why the Habs are struggling to win.
Right now, the Canadiens look a lot more like the .500 team from 2009-10 that was last in 5-on-5 scoring than the team that roared to a 7-4-1 record to start the season.
Cammalleri, in particular, played one of his worst games of the season. He looked tired, like the rest of the team, and when you're tired you tend to cheat and use your stick rather than take that extra stride. Cammy took a terrible slashing penalty to kill the Habs' 5-on-3 power play when the game was still tied at zero.
Had the Canadiens been able to score on that PP, it would have changed the entire complexion of the game.
4. Aside from Price, the Fourth Line is the Only Thing that Is Functioning
Benoit Pouliot looks as if he has rediscovered his confidence playing on the fourth line with Mathieu Darche and Jeff Halpern. That trio combined for some of the Habs' best offensive moments against the Senators last night. While they didn't score, if they can keep playing this well, they will provide valuable offensive depth.
There were a few shifts in the second period where the Habs were in the Sens zone for almost a minute each time, with Pouliot carrying the puck and controlling the play as his linemates used their gritty play to create time and space.
Even if they are not contributing offensively, lines like this can grab the momentum away from the opposition and help transfer it to the other lines.
Now if only the top-six could get going!
5. Speaking of Missing in Action, Where Is the Habs Third Line?
I have already stated that I am not a fan of Eller in the press box. That being said, there were three capable players on the third line last night, but the trio was completely invisible.
To a man, Maxim Lapierre, Dustin Boyd and Tom Pyatt contributed nothing to the Habs lineup last night. This further compounds the issues in the Canadiens offensive ranks, as a one-line team will not win many games. Especially when that one line is their fourth line.
Standings and Next Game
The loss moves the Canadiens to 8-5-1 with 17 points in the standings. Their hold on first place in the Northeast Division is tenuous with both the Senators and Bruins at 15 points in the standings. The Bruins also hold three games in hand.
The Canadiens are now entering a more difficult part of their schedule as they play Vancouver, Boston and Philadelphia over the next 10 days.
Hopefully Jacques Martin can use their two days off to find some stable lines before they welcome the surging Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday in Montreal. Tuesday's tilt will be the first real test of the season for the Canadiens, and with their recent swoon they are going to have their hands full.
The Habs are now 1-3-0 in their last four games, and were it not for a disheveled Sabres squad, they might be on a four-game losing streak right now.
(Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images North America)
