Game 36: Canadiens at Hurricanes

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Match Up

After an extended Christmas break, the Canadiens (22-11-2) look to pick up where they left off when they face the Hurricanes (10-21-4) in Carolina on Monday. The game is set to start at 7:00 and can be seen on RDS and Sportsnet East.

This is the second of three meetings between the Habs and Canes this season, and the only one in Carolina. Alex Galchenyuk scored his first career hat trick the last time these teams met and Max Pacioretty picked up three assists to lead the Habs to a 4-1 victory.

What to Watch

As good as Galchenyuk and Pacioretty have looked together, David Desharnais has looked alright as well on a line with P.A. Parenteau and now Lars Eller. Desharnais has three goals and two assists in his past five games, a quarter of the 20 points he has in 35 games this season.

There haven't been many bright spots in the Canes season so far this year, except the possible high draft pick at the end of the tunnel. The Hurricanes are the second worst team in the NHL, three points ahead of the league-worst Oilers. Defenseman Justin Faulk has emerged as one of the team's best players, leading the Canes in scoring with 20 points.

What's at Stake

The Canadiens may have had an extra couple of days off but their competition hasn't. Both the Red Wings and the Lightning picked up wins on Saturday leaving the Habs in third place in the Atlantic division, but with games in hand.

Who's Out

The Canadiens are rested and healthy headed in to Monday's action.

Jordan Staal is set to make his season debut on Monday and Jiri Tlusty is expected to return to the lineup as well for Carolina. Alex Semin (upper body) is day-to-day.

What Else

The IIHF World Junior Championship is underway taking place in Toronto and Montreal this year, and the Canadiens have four prospects taking part. Goaltending prospect Zach Fucale is the starting netminder for Canada, Artturi Lehkonen is captain of the Finnish team, Jacob De La Rose is wearing the "C" for team Sweden, and Martin Reway is captaining the Slovaks. As impressive as it is to have three prospects captaining their respective teams, the Canadiens top draft picks from the past two seasons, Michael McCarron and Nikita Scherbak, were left off their countries' roster.

The Question Mark

What have been the Habs greatest strengths and weaknesses so far this season?

Tonight's Show

Join host Steven Hindle along with Kosta Papoulias and Rob Elbaz for the Montreal Hockey Talk Pregame Show as we go live at 6:00 to preview the Canadiens and the Hurricanes.

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Rookie Watch Part 1: Bruins vs Habs

Last night in Montreal took place the first pre-season game of our Habs. They were playing against the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens decided to go with line-up mostly made up of rookies, with only Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov, Rene Bourque and Tom Gilbert as NHL veterans (note : you can also add goalie Joey MacDonald, even though he has only played 133 games in the NHL and former Hurricanes forward Drayson Bowman).

One thing I wanted to look at was the performance of our young players, but mostly Jarred Tinordi, Michael McCarron, Christian Thomas and Nick Sorkin.

Here are my thoughts on how they played:

Let’s start with Jarred Tinordi. He was one of the few Habs who had played some NHL games last year. Physically speaking, he was on-par with the Bruins. He was able to deliver some good body checks throughout the entire game. However, his defensive skills were lacking a bit. He has not improved his speed at all this summer. In fact, he looked slower than last year. Maybe it is because he spent almost 24 minutes on the ice ? Him and Pateryn looked exhausted in the third period and definitely were Montreal's worst defensive pairing.

Michael McCarron played a great game, for the small amount of time he spent on the ice. He delivered spectacular body checks, managed to put some pressure on B’s defense, took a couple great shots on the net. However, in early second period, he got injured. The latest news are that he suffered a day-to-day upper body injury and that his timetable is still unknown. The only thing he was missing last night was speed. He really does need to work on that aspect of the game this year in London under Dale Hunter. If he can improve at least just a bit, then I would not be surprised to see him in the Canadiens' line-up in a couple of years.

Christian Thomas definitely impressed me. Great speed, good hockey sense, great passing skills and always backchecking hard to prevent scoring chances; he was probably one of the best players on the ice last night. He scored an awesome goal by putting in some effort during a powerplay, as well as preparing Bowman’s game-winning goal with a very accurate pass. He deserved to be named the game's First Star in my opinion. However, I doubt he’ll stay in the big league since he’s a pretty small guy. Who knows, maybe if many injuries happen during the season, he will be called-up…

To be honest, I did not know what to expect from Nick Sorkin. I did not even know the guy up until he showed some promising things during the rookies’ training camp. Well, I must say he has been pretty impressive last night. In fact, if a single rookie could cause a surprise this year, I would put an old $2 bill on him. The problem for Sorkin is that he signed to an AHL-only contract. He is not a giant, but he definitely has a pretty good size. He can be physical, he has a reliable speed and he would definitely have everything it takes to be a power forward in the NHL once he's polished and more mature. I would like to see him perform against a faster team such as the Colorado Avalanche.

That about sums it up for my last night observation on those four guys. The only one who really needs to step up his game in order to even be recalled if something happens is Tinordi because at this rate, he’s going to spend the entire year in Hamilton, while Nathan Beaulieu and Francis Bouillon stay with the big club. 

Written by Dan Beaulieu @Azgarde54                         

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A Day at the 2013 NHL Draft

BY:Tony Healey Jr. - @T_Loc11

On Sunday June 30th,  I crossed the NHL Draft off my bucket list. After attending the event, I can honestly say that I would love to attended every NHL Draft from here on out. I know that it was an unusually deep draft and it was all in one day, but your access to everything is unparalleled. I have attended many sporting events in my lifetime, but nothing where I was able to get so close to the action.

After winning general admission tickets, my buddy Brian and I drove down on Sunday and got there early enough to have a few brews outside before the festivities started. We walked around the concourse and saw the Conn Smythe and other trophies, as well as the Stanley Cup. We then grabbed a couple of more beers and took a bathroom break, where we ran into Sean Monahan.

The future NHL stars were all over the place, and happy to talk and sign anything you had. We also decided to upgrade our seats after the 10th pick by sneaking into the bottom bowl of seats. We got two rows from the draft floor right by the Habs' draft table. They could hear me very well and I even was able to meet and say hello to a few people you might know. Marc Bergevin, Michel Therrien, and Trevor Timmons all said hello and I even got them to smile a few times when I cracked a few jokes. 

Brian (thanks to my interference with the security guard) was even able to sneak his way into the media area, and, being a Buffalo Sabres fan, was able to spend almost 20 minutes speaking with the Buffalo T.V. media. He was also able to make it to where the draft picks give their press conferences and snappedsnap a picture using his iPhone of Montreal's first round pick Michael McCarron talking with the media. Brian even said that guys with the professional cameras and microphones even got out of his way without asking so he could snap the picture.

We ran into Paul "The Fat Walrus" MacLean while we were sneaking into the VIP lounge. While I walked by, I turned to Brian and said "there goes the Fat Walrus". I said it loud enough for mClean to hear and as he turned around my buddy congratulated him on his coach of the year honours. 

Later that day, Pierre LeBrun walked by and I asked for a picture. He was more than happy to take a picture with me, but Brian couldn't get the camera to work and faked the picture because he didn't want to keep him any longer. Thanks Brian. 

We were able to watch Hall of Famer Joe Sakic get asked to see his badge by the same security guard that I ran interference on. The guard would not let him pass until Sakic found his badge which allowed all the Devils fans to continue the "Marty's better" chants for an extra two minutes. Bill Guerin, Brendan Shanahan, Dan Bylsma, and many of the more famous media members walked by. Most of them even stopped to talk or at least exchange hellos.

When Devils' General Manager Lou Lamoriello walked by, I was able to stop him and congratulate him on the Schneider deal. He shook my hand and took the time to speak with me for about three minutes. I know the Devils' assistant equipment manager because he worked in Albany for the former River Rats. I worked at their practice facility at the time. I was able to parley that into Lamoriello speaking with me for a bit longer.

With all the scouts, former and future players, team management, and media personalities walking around your access to information is really an anomaly for any fan. There is no other sport or event that allows you this much access as an average fan to the backstage of sports. 

"Bon travail" NHL and the New Jersey Devils for putting on a great event that I look forward to attending again.  

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