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Sunday Habs Links: Zach Fucale will start in Canada's semifinal game

Here are your daily links, including Bournival coming out of his shell, debating whether the Habs' record is just "fool's gold", Zach Fucale staying positive on the ice, and more.

By Sam Li
MONTREAL, QC - DECEMBER 26: Goaltender Zachary Fucale #31 of Team Canada makes a glove save during the 2015 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship game against Team Slovakia
MONTREAL, QC - DECEMBER 26: Goaltender Zachary Fucale #31 of Team Canada makes a glove save during the 2015 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship game against Team Slovakia
Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Montreal Canadiens

  • Zach Fucale finds out that he will start against Slovakia in the WJC semi-finals. [TSN]
  • How does Fucale handle the pressure of competing? By staying positive. Fun fact: Fucale is so chatty that his world junior teammates bought him a roll of duct tape - for his mouth - as a Secret Santa gift. [Puck Daddy]
  • Michael Bournival scored twice in just 9 minutes of ice time in his first game of 2015, against the Devils. Will it foreshadow his games to come? [Canadiens]
  • TSN insider Darren Dreger argues that the Montreal Canadiens are actually as good as their record suggests, despite fancy stats telling a different story. Note: Habs are 5th in the league in points, but 21th in the league in their Corsi For% (49.4%), and 6th in the league for goal differential (+15). Draw your own conclusions. [TSN 690]
  • David Perron played his first game as a Pittsburgh Penguin last night against the Habs. A Quebec native, Perron said it was "surreal" to debut against Montreal. Can someone ask him how much more surreal it was to play for a cup-contender? [NHL]

Around the League and Elsewhere

  • Evgeni Malkin and Craig Adams had an unfriendly scuffle at practice. No serious injuries, although Adams had to win a protective face-guard over his jaw for warm ups later that night. Was "teammate-inflicted injury" on anyone else's Pittsburgh injury bingo card? [Pensbugh]
  • The Philadephia Flyers will be fined for daring to travel on December 26th, flouting clear CBA holiday rules. Kind of a banal issue to enforce, but okay. [Broad Street Bullies]
  • This summer, Edmonton Oilers had hired analytics writer and critic Tyler Dellow to work for the team. Edmonton stubbornly insists on being terrible, but EOTP's own Arik Parnass breaks down how Dellow has actually improved the Oilers' possession numbers. [Hockey Prospectus]

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