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Canadiens vs Penguins game thread & lineups

Atlantic leading Montreal plays host to Metropolitan leading Pittsburgh tonight at 7:30. Both teams come into the game strong with Montreal riding the high of 6 game win streak and Pittsburgh winners of 9 of their last 10.

Montreal is expected to make just one change tonight, going with Price in net instead of Dustin Tokarski who won 4-1 in Detroit on Sunday. Starting with Saturday’s game against the Flyers, the Habs began a stretch where they play 6 games in 9 nights with 2 back-to-backs. The stretch should be a good test of the Habs recent team play. In the past three games the Habs have had 10 different players notch goals.

Pittsburgh should feature a fair amount of shuffling in their lines as Pascal Dupuis sits out tonight’s game. Dupuis did not make the trip after a visit to the doctor. It’s not clear whether it’s illness or injury that sidelines Dupuis who had recently been reinstalled alongside Sidney Crosby on the top line. Dupuis’s spot could be taken by Patric Hornqvist or by Blake Comeau. Both have seen time on the top two lines.

Olli Maatta remains a game time decision for the Pens. Olli Maatta will dress for the Pens. His return, after the removal of cancerous growth, could greatly improve the Pens’ D.

Update: Mike Weaver is out tonight due to an undisclosed upper body injury – Drayson Bowman draws in and Nathan Beaulieu will play D. Not sure of the configuration and I think Gonchar and Emelin might be a nightmare pairing, but I am updating pairings to reflect preferred sides.

Puck drop is at 7:30 PM EST (9:00 PM In Newfoundland!)

In Canada (English): Sportsnet-East

In Quebec (French): RDS

In the Penguins region: ROOT (as in “I am ROOT”)

Elsewhere: NHL Gamcenter Live or NHL Center Ice

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup
Left Wing
Center
Right Wing
Max Pacioretty David Desharnais PA Parenteau
Alex Galchenyuk Tomas Plekanec Brendan Gallagher
Brandon Prust Lars Eller Jiri Sekac
Drayson Bowman Manny Malhotra Dale Weise

Left Defense
Right Defense
Andrei Markov P.K. Subban
Alexei Emelin Sergei Gonchar
Nathan Beaulieu Tom Gilbert

Goaltenders
Carey Price
Dustin Tokarski

Injured: Michael Bournival, Mike Weaver

As for the Pittsburgh Penguins, here’s how they’ll look tonight:

Pittsburgh Penguins Projected Lineup
Left Wing
Center
Right Wing
Chris Kunitz Sidney Crosby Blake Comeau
Nick Spaling Evgeni Malkin Patric Hornqvist
Beau Bennett Brandon Sutter Steve Downie
Zach Sill Marcel Goc Craig Adams

Left Defense
Right Defense
Paul Martin Kris Letang
Christian Ehrhoff Olli Maatta
Rob Scuderi Simon Despres

Goaltenders
Marc-Andre Fleury
Thomas Greiss

Injured: Pascal Dupuis

Scratched: Robert Bortuzzo

Check out the opposing side at PensBurgh

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