Is the game plan too complicated to figure out? The Canadiens have two options against the Capitals tonight: Limit them to two or less goals somehow (probably would require another tremendous performance from Price, and at least 25 shot-blocks from the players in front of him), or break it open and pray for a miraculous offensive performance. Which one do you think they’ll opt for?

Not that shutting down the highest scoring team in the league will be an easy task. And outscoring them would be a fantasy, even with Brian Gionta and Andrei Markov healthy. But hey, Michal Neuvirth is expected to get his first start of the season for the Caps. Don’t lick your chops too quickly; he was so good in the AHL for Hershey last year that he started over Varlamov in the playoffs after the Caps were eliminated.

Ryan O’Byrne is back, and not a moment too soon. The Canadiens’ rearguard pushes Jay Leach to the sidelines, and will likely be paired with Marc Andre Bergeron. Paul Mara remains with Josh Gorges, and Hamrlik and Spacek are likely to see a healthy dose of Backstrom and Ovechkin tonight. Alex Semin is on the IR. And the Canadiens might want to keep an eye on Brooks Laich and Tomas Fleischmann, who have both provided the type of secondary scoring the Canadiens have been so hard-pressed to create for themselves this year.

Georges Laraque also makes his triumphant return to the lineup tonight. He’ll likely compliment Glen Metropolit and Tom Pyatt on a line. Latendresse and Lapierre will play with Ryan White. Travis Moen will do the grunt work for Gomez and Cammalleri; whether it unlocks the door to Gomez’s scoring woes of late is another story. Plekanec will try to provoke some consistency from Pacioretty and Kostitsyn, who both managed to score against the Hurricanes, Tuesday.

The Habs will welcome the Red Wings to the Bell Centre tomorrow, and I’ll be chatting with Craig Custance of the Sporting News on the Team990, at 6:00pm, for the Habs pregame show.

edit: 10:41- Tarek El Bashir reports via twitter, that Varlamov likely to start...not Neuvirth

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