Who are the Montreal Canadiens? Last game out we saw a deft, organized unit capable of defending against one of the hottest teams in the league. Today’s test agains the Washington Capitals will be an opportunity to continue to develop in that style of play, a style that certainly more stable and dependable in the long run than the unpredictable, odds-defying method of play we’ve seen employed by the Habs more often than not at this point in the season.
The second half of the season is a chance end bad habits, and inject a team with new, heightened discipline. Therrien will have a good matchup today against another old school coach in Barry Trotz, who has brought a new era of discipline to the Capitals, taking over for Adam Oates who could not erase the effects of the freewheeling Bruce Boudreau Years.
Alex Ovechkin will be in search of his 30th goal of the season. It will be the tenth time the prolific goalscorer has reached the 30-goal milestone (he’s never scored less than 30 in a season, even in the shortened 2012-13 season Ovy scored 32 goals in 48 games), but in facing the best goalie in the league today, he will have his work cut out for him and as fans this will only bode well for us on the entertainment scale.
Both the Habs and Caps are coming off shutout wins. The teams hit the ice at 1:00 PM EST.
In Canada (English): Sportsnet East
In Canada (French): RDS
In the Capitals Region: CSMA
Elsewhere: NBCSN, NHL Center Ice or NHL Gamecenter Live
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Max Pacioretty | Tomas Plekanec | Dale Weise |
| Alex Galchenyuk | David Desharnais | Brendan Gallagher |
| Jiri Sekac | Lars Eller | Brandon Prust |
| Michaël Bournival | Manny Malhotra | Christian Thomas |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Andrei Markov | P.K. Subban |
| Nathan Bealieu | Sergei Gonchar |
| Alexi Emelin | Tom Gilbert |
| Goaltenders |
| Carey Price |
| Dustin Tokarski |
Scratched: Mike Weaver, Garbiel Dumont
Injuries: P.A. Parenteau (concussion)
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Alex Ovechkin | Nicklas Backstrom | Jay Beagle |
| Marcus Johansson | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Troy Brouwer |
| Brooks Laich | Eric Fehr | Joel Ward |
| Jason Chimera | Michael Latta | Tom Wilson |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Brooks Orpik | John Carlson |
| Karl Alzner | Matt Niskanen |
| Jack Hillen | Matt Hunwick |
| Goaltenders |
| Braden Holtby |
| Justin Peters |
Scratched: Maxime Lapierre, Scott Harrington
Injuries: John Erskine (neck), Dmitry Orlov (wrist), Aaron Volpatti
Check out the enemy over at Japers’ Rink
