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After probably one of the worst losses of the season, the Habs are in Anaheim tonight to face their Western Conference competition for the President's Trophy. The Ducks are currently the number one team in the NHL with 89 points, tied with Nashville and having the exact same record of 41-17-7. The Habs had a very tough game against the San Jose Sharks on Monday, but are still sitting atop the Eastern Conference with 87 points, and a record of 41-17-5, giving them two games at hand over the Ducks and Predators.
Former teammates will meet tonight when Jiri Sekac and Devante Smith-Pelly play their first games against their former teams. The freshness of the trade makes the encounter a little more meaningful, as both players will want to show their current teams that they won the trade so close to being traded. In 4 games with the Ducks, Jiri Sekac has 2 assists, is a +2 and has an average CF% of 53, playing on the third line with Rickard Rakell and Emerson Etem. Devante Smith-Pelly has been used all over the line-up in his 3 games played with the Habs, and has 0 points, is -2 and an average CF% of 44.
The Ducks played in Arizona last night, so the Habs have the advantage of facing a team on the back end of a back-to-back. The Ducks will be starting with back-up goalie John Gibson, who had taken over for Ducks' regular starter and 30-win goalie Frederik Andersen who had been injured. Gibson is 4-1-0 in his last 5 starts with .941 SV%.
We will get to see all of Marc Bergevin's deadline day acquisitions, as Brian Flynn, Torrey Mitchell and Jeff Petry will be in the lineup tonight. The odd men out for the forwards tonight are Manny Malholtra and P.A. Parenteau.
The puck drops at 10:00PM EST.
In Canada (French): RDS
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Max Pacioretty | David Desharnais | Brendan Gallagher |
| Alex Galchenyuk | Tomas Plekanec | Dale Weise |
| Lars Eller | Jacob de la Rose | Devante Smith-Pelly |
| Brandon Prust | Brian Flynn | Torrey Mitchell |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Andrei Markov | P.K. Subban |
| Sergei Gonchar | Jeff Petry |
| Nathan Beaulieu | Tom Gilbert |
|
Goaltenders |
| Carey Price |
| Dustin Tokarski |
Scratched: Mike Weaver, Manny Malholtra, P.A. Parenteau
Injuries: Alexei Emelin (upper-body)
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Kyle Palmieri | Ryan Getzlaf | Corey Perry |
| Tomas Fleischmann | Ryan Kesler | Jakob Silfverberg |
| Jiri Sekac | Rickard Rakell | Emerson Etem |
| Patrick Maroon | Nate Thompson | Andrew Cogliano |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Hampus Lindholm | Francois Beauchemin |
| Cam Fowler | Simon Despres |
| Clayton Stoner | Josh Manson |
|
Goaltenders |
| John Gibson |
| Frederik Andersen |
Scratched: Chris Wagner
Injuries: James Wisniewski (foot), Korbinian Holzer (concussion), Tim Jackman (lower-body), Matt Beleskey (shoulder), Sami Vatanen (lower-body), Sheldon Souray (torn right wrist ligament)
Check out the enemy over at Anaheim Calling.