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Thursday, 20 October 2011 10:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Canadiens.

When and where: 7 p.m., EDT; Consol Energy Center.

TV: Root Sports, TSN-Habs; RDS.

Record: 1-3-1, 3 points. The Canadiens are in 13th place of the Eastern Conference and fourth place in the Northeast Division.

Leading Scorer: Max Pacioretty, 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists).

Last Game: 3-1 home loss to the Sabres, Tuesday. Carey Price made 20 saves for the Canadiens.

Last Game against the Penguins: 3-0 road win, March 12. Brent Johnson made eight saves for the Penguins.

Canadiens Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Pacioretty. He has a four-game scoring streak.

Ex-Penguins on the Canadiens: Randy Cunneyworth, assistant coach; Hal Gill (above), D.

Ex-Canadiens on the Penguins: Arron Asham, RW.

Useless Canadiens Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Former Penguins forward Pierre Larouche holds the Canadien's franchise record for goals by a center. He had 50 in 1979-80.

Best Canadiens Video We Could Find: Russ Courtnall's series-winning goal in Game 7 of a 1992 Adam Division semifinal series against Frank Pietrangelo and the Whalers:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (3-2-0, 2.58 GAA, .914 SV%) for the Penguins and Carey Price (1-3-1, 2.78 GAA, .885 SV%) for the Canadiens.

Injuries: For the Penguins, centers Tyler Kennedy (concussion), Evgeni Malkin ("lower body"), defenseman Brian Strait (arm) are questionable. Defensemen Roberto Bortuzzo (knee), Boris Valabik (knee), Brooks Orpik (abdominal), center Sidney Crosby (concussion), left winger Dustin Jeffrey (knee) and right winger Nick Petersen (concussion) are on injured reserve. For the Canadiens, left winger Mike Cammalleri (right knee) is day to day. Defenseman Jaroslav Spacek ("upper body") is questionable. Defenseman Chris Campoli ("lower body"), Andrei Markov (right knee) and center Ryan White (sports hernia) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' did not practice yesterday. Their primary lines and defensive pairings against the Wild Tuesday were:

Steve Sullivan - Richard Park - James Neal
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Joe Vitale - Arron Asham
Steve MacIntyre - Mark Letestu - Craig Adams

Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Brian Strait - Deryk Engelland
Matt Niskanen - Ben Lovejoy

-The Canadiens' primary lines and defensive pairings against the Sabres Monday were

Travis Moen - Scott Gomez - Brian Gionta
Lars Eller - Tomas Plekanec - Erik Cole
Max Pacioretty - David Desharnais - Andrei Kostitsyn
Mathieu Darche - Andreas Engqvist - Aaron Palushaj

Josh Gorges - P.K. Subban
Hal Gill - Raphael Diaz
Alexei Emelin - Yannick Weber

Notes:

-Kris Letang is suspended.

-Neal is Mr. October. (PG+)

-Asham is scheduled to play in his 700th career game.

-Staal has 98 career goals.

-Cooke has 97 career points with the Penguins.

-Park has 96 career goals.

-Cammalleri could play after missing three games due to a laceration on his right knee.

-Gill is scheduled to play in his 1,000th career game. He will be the 38th United States-born player to reach that milestone.

-An expanded Student Rush will be held tonight.

(Photo: Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Comments (4)

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written by Blackblood, October 20, 2011 - 10:27 AM

Nick Petersen is no longer on IR, he played this past weekend. Of course, when it rains, it pours. While sitting on the bench he took an errant puck off the cheek and, from what I've read, it swelled up so bad he resembled Lovejoy from the 24/7 show. He's wearing a full face cage but isn't expected to miss additional time.

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written by Blackblood, October 20, 2011 - 10:29 AM

(I mean, of course, Petersen played in WB/S)
Any update on Strait?

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written by philmatt24, October 20, 2011 - 12:33 PM

I find myself amused by the typo "Roberto Bortuzzo", imagining him with a thin Spanish mustache...

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written by Disgruntled Goat, October 20, 2011 - 01:25 PM

My name is Roberto Bortuzzo. You ate my pizza. Prepare to die.

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