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The past day and a half have been the longest in my Habs-watching life.
A gauntlet was dropped by Michel Therrien. A firestorm ensued, and today the Habs addressed the media to stoke the fires for a return to normalcy. But, given the state of affairs going into tonight's game, and the unlikelihood of the Canadiens' making the playoffs growing more with each game, we all know that isn't going to happen.
The Habs return to the Bell Centre, fresh off a winless three-game road-trip to face an opponent's whose playoff hopes are still alive despite being only two points ahead of the Habs in the standings.
The Flyers' playoff hopes remain alive on the strength of games at hand. With 56 games played, the Flyers have the least GPs among the ten teams separated by ten points between fourth and thirteenth place (which is where the Habs sit now, five points up on the Buffalo Sabres).
It's possible we'll see a great game from the Habs tonight, who will be looking to bounce back from an unsuccessful road-trip and will be galvanized after a tough couple of days in the media. It's worth tuning in, even though the playoffs are an unlikely outcome for this team, there's definitely a lot of entertainment value to still derive from the 2015-16 season.
Lineup Notes: It was announced today that David Desharnais will be out for three weeks with a broken foot; the goaltending carousel continues to spin, as Mike Condon starts tonight after Ben Scrivens' loss Wednesday in Denver.
The puck drops at 7:30 PM EST.
How To Watch:
In Canada (French): RDS
In Canada (English): Sportsnet East
In the Flyers region: CSN-PH
Elsewhere: NHL GameCenter, NHL Center Ice
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Alex Galchenyuk | Tomas Plekanec | Brendan Gallagher |
| Max Pacioretty | Lars Eller | Sven Andrighetto |
| Paul Byron | Jacob de le Rose | Dale Weise |
| Lucas Lessio | Torrey Mitchell | Devante Smith-Pelly |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Andrei Markov | P.K. Subban |
| Nathan Beaulieu | Tom Gilbert |
| Alexei Emelin | Greg Pateryn |
|
Goaltenders |
| Mike Condon |
| Ben Scrivens |
Scratched: Mark Barberio, Tomas Fleischmann
Injuries: Carey Price (lower body), Daniel Carr (lower body), Jeff Petry (lower body), Brian Flynn (lower body), David Desharnais (broken foot)
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Brayden Schenn | Claude Giroux | Wayne Simmonds |
| R.J. Umberger | Nick Cousins | Jakub Voracek |
| Matt Read | Scott Laughton | Michael Raffl |
| Chris Vandevelde | Pierre-Edouard Bellemare | Ryan White |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Andrew MacDonald | Shayne Gostisbehere |
| Nick Schultz | Mark Streit |
| Evgeni Medvedev | Radko Gudas |
|
Goaltenders |
| Michal Neuvirth |
| Steve Mason |
Scratched: Sam Gagner, Brandon Manning
Injuries: Michael Del Zotto (upper body), Sean Couturier (lower body)
Check out the enemy over at Broad Street Hockey.