Game Thread: Habs crush Hurricanes 7-2 Markov injured again!

The Carolina Hurricanes face the Montreal Candiens in the first of four regular season meetings at the Bell Centre.

Carolina is coming off a humiliating loss 8-1 at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers, while the Habs are coming off a pair of wins against the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins.

The two teams split their meetings in 2009-10, and the Canadiens hold a 92-57-4 record against the Huricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise with 20 ties.

Cam Ward will get the start for the Hurricanes and is a career 6-0-1 career, with a 1.55 GAA, at the Bell Centre. Carey Price gets the start for Montreal and is 2-3-1 with a 2.57 GAA and .924 SvPct against Carolina.

HURRICANES LINEUP (Courtesy of Canes Country)

Forwards

Staal, Samsonov, LaRose – Sutter,Tlusty,Dwyer – Ruutu,Skinner,Cole – Matsumoto,Kostopolus,Jokinen

Defence Pairings:

Pitkanen,Babchuk – Corvo,Gleason – Harrison, McNain

Goalie: Cam Ward

CANADIENS PROBABLE LINEUP

Forwards:
Brian Gionta – Tomas Plekanec – Mike Cammalleri

Andrei Kostitsyn – Scott Gomez – Maxim Lapierre

Benoit Pouliot – Jeff Halpern – Mathieu Darche

Travis Moen – Lars Eller – Tom Pyatt

Defense Parings: Andrei Markov – Josh Gorges; Jaroslav Spacek – Roman Hamrlik; Hal Gill – P.K. Subban

Goalies: Carey Price , Alex Auld

SCORING SUMMARY

First period
11:18 MTL	Tomas Plekanec, 6 (Travis Moen, 2 Andrei Kostitsyn, 6) (CAR: 14 59 25 33 30 12 MTL: 44 32 13 14 31 76)
18:32 MTL	Michael Cammalleri, 4 (Tomas Plekanec, 10 Brian Gionta, 4) (CAR: 14 59 25 33 30 12 MTL: 21 79 13 14 26 31)
Second period
09:08 CAR	Anton Babchuk, 3 (PP) (Eric Staal, 10 Jussi Jokinen, 8) (CAR: 14 36 25 33 30 12 MTL: 75 15 26 31 94)
11:21 CAR	Tom Kostopoulos, 1 (Eric Staal, 11 Jussi Jokinen, 9) (CAR: 29 36 25 30 12 4 MTL: 11 21 79 26 46 31)
14:34 MTL	Brian Gionta, 4 (Tomas Plekanec, 11 Josh Gorges, 6) (CAR: 14 77 6 59 30 12 MTL: 21 79 13 14 26 31)
15:34 MTL	Maxim Lapierre, 2 (Jaroslav Spacek, 5) (CAR: 26 15 25 30 4 53 MTL: 44 11 6 46 40 31)
18:09 MTL	Benoit Pouliot, 5 (PP) (Jaroslav Spacek, 6 Scott Gomez, 3) (CAR: 44 59 33 12 60 MTL: 44 11 6 46 57 31)
Third period
17:43 MTL	Andrei Kostitsyn, 7 (PP) (Tomas Plekanec, 12 Michael Cammalleri, 8) (CAR: 77 25 60 16 MTL: 11 26 46 31 76)
18:35 MTL	Mathieu Darche, 3 (PP) (Scott Gomez, 4 Roman Hamrlik, 7) (CAR: 77 26 25 12 60 MTL: 44 11 6 52 57 31)

THREE STARS: 1. Tomas Plekanec (MTL), 2. Carey Price (MTL) 3. Brian Gionta (MTL)

Talking Points