The Habs play their fourth game of a four game home stand tonight that probably should have gone better than it has. The Canadiens, losers of their last two games, will look to overcome their first three-game home losing streak in three years tonight against a New Jersey Devils team that is gaining momentum, going 6-2-2 over their last 10 games. Fresh off a win last night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Devils will be looking for their fourth win in a row, and third win in a row against a Canadian team.
The Habs have had plenty of time to make adjustments after Tuesday’s loss to the Sabres. Michel Therrien has reunited David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty after a three-month breakup. The Canadiens schedule sees them playing a game on average every two nights until the end of the season, and with such a busy schedule ahead of them, Michel Therrien will be looking to mix up the chemicals within his lines to test where he can find a strong electrostatic balance. Coulomb’s Law tells us that for there to be an electrostatic reaction, the interaction of charges must occur along a joint trajectory – everything must be in line. Although they outshot the Sabres by a wide margin on Tuesday, the Canadiens did not look like a team catalyzed and in line, and as a result could not muster the attractive force needed to create flashes of lightning that make a team come out on top against even the least worthy opponent.
Alas, Carey Price is known to be the king of the repulsive force, so if there is a catalyst in the Habs’ lineup that can cascade a charge through the rest of the team, it will come from between the pipes.
The teams hit the ice at 7:00 PM EST.
In Canada (English): City
In Canada (French): TVA
In the Devils region: MSG+
Elsewhere: NHL Center Ice or NHL Gamecenter Live
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Max Pacioretty | David Desharnais | Dale Weise |
| Alex Galchenyuk | Tomas Plekanec | Brendan Gallagher |
| Jacob de la Rose | Lars Eller | Jiri Sekac |
| Brandon Prust | Gabriel Dumont | Christian Thomas |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Andrei Markov | P.K. Subban |
| Nathan Bealieu | Sergei Gonchar |
| Alexei Emelin | Tom Gilbert |
| Goaltenders |
| Carey Price |
| Dustin Tokarski |
Scratched: Mike Weaver, Manny Malhotra, Michael Bournival
Injuries: P.A. Parenteau (concussion)
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Dainius Zubrus | Mike Cammalleri | Jaromir Jagr |
| Patrik Elias | Travis Zajac | Martin Havlat |
| Adam Henrique | Scott Gomez | Steve Bernier |
| Tuomo Ruutu | Jacob Josefson | Jordin Tootoo |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Andy Greene | Adam Larsson |
| Jon Merrill | Marek Zidlicky |
| Mark Fraser | Peter Harrold |
| Goaltenders |
| Keith Kinkaid |
| Cory Schneider |
Scratched: Eric Gelinas, Michael Ryder
Injuries: Stephen Gionta (hand), Damon Severson (ankle), Bryce Salvador (back), Ryane Clowe (concussion)
Check out the enemy over at In Lou We Trust.
