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Beware of the Broken Wings |
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After the dreadful trip out west. the Canadiens are temporarily back at the Bell Centre and will be taking on the Detroit Red Wings tonight. So far, the Tricolore has won all 3 games against the Michigan based outfit, outscoring them 18-6 including an 8-1 trashing last month in which the Drouin, Domi and Shaw line was magnificent. Tonight, Montreal will be taking on a team that has a 1-7-2 record in its last 10 games. On paper, there is no reason whatsoever for the Canadiens to drop this game but they've never needed a reason to drop one have they?
Yesterday at practice, Brendan Gallagher gave Habs nation a heck of a scare when one of his shots hit Carey Price up high, near the left collarbone. The star netminder did look shaken up on the play but he didn't leave the ice. Later in the day, the Canadiens recalled Charlie Lindgren from Laval and that was all that was needed for fans and media alike to freak out about Price's status. Thankfully, it was soon confirmed that Price would be in net against Only 5 players failed to take the ice this morning: Weber, Gallagher, Domi, Thompson and Drouin. Everyone else was on the ice and Claude Julien has already confirmed that Brett Kulak will be back in the line-up tonight while Mike Reilly will sit. As for Tomas Tatar, he will also make his return after missing the Anaheim debacle thanks to a virus. We've yet to be told who will make way for him and Julien said that will be known closer to game time.
While Montreal will be trying to complete the season sweep against Detroit, Columbus will be playing in Boston and if the Habs ever needed help from their eternal rivals its tonight. Should Montreal win and Columbus lose, the Canadiens would be back in the second wild-card spot. Boston will need to be much better than they were against Pittsburgh when they lost 4-2 on Saturday. Starters in net have yet to be confirmed but it should be noted that Bobrovsky was in net for the 2-0 loss to the Islanders (one of the goals was in an empty net) last night and it will be interesting to see if he starts again tonight. Detroit and that Lindgren's recall had nothing to do with the incident at practice. Was he called up because Niemi is done or was it because Price will handle all the remaining workload and not take part in all practices? Who knows but one thing is for sure, today's morning skate was optional and Carey Price elected to practice.
I personally cannot help but worry about tonight's games... it just looks too easy for the Habs and they do sometimes seems to fail to take games like these seriously. The Wings are in a funk but that might just mean that they are ready too bounce back. In order to win tonight, the Tricolore will need Carey Price to be Carey Price and for their leaders to up their games significantly. The fan in me still believes in this team however and if I had to predict the outcome, I'd say 5-2 Canadiens. What about you?
Little collection side note, I was able to redeem my first reward on Club 1909 yesterday. Was trying to reach 42 000 points to grab the Max Domi game used jersey but someone beat me to it... So I decided to go for a player that has a significant place in the Habs history and chose a Tomas Plekanec game used jersey. I know he wasn't everyone's favorite but the fact is that he played 984 games in the Canadiens' uniform (that's 7th all time) and scored 20 shorthanded goals (second in team history). More importantly though, he was a complete hockey player and a proud Canadien who wanted nothing more than come back last summer to play his 1000th game on the right team.
Game starts at 19:30 tonight, don't miss it and do keep an eye on that Boston vs Columbus match-up!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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