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NHL Gameday Preview: Montreal Canadiens @ New Jersey Devils - Game 46

April 23, 2013, 9:59 AM ET [49 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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Match-up - Montreal Canadiens (27-13-5) @ New Jersey Devils (17-18-10)
Road/Home records - 13-6-2 -------------- 11-9-2
TV - RDS, TSN-Habs, MSG2
Puck drop - 7:00 PM ET
Season series - Canadiens lead 2-0
Last 10: Canadiens 4-6-0 / Devils 2-7-1
Projected starting goalies - Carey Price (MTL) vs. Martin Brodeur (NJ)

Battle of the stats

Goals for/against per game

Montreal - 3.02 / 2.62
New Jersey - 2.31 / 2.53

Power play/Penalty Kill percentage

Montreal - 21.2% / 80%
New Jersey - 15.2% / 80.8%

Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Canadiens:

Lines courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com.

Max Pacioretty - David Desharnais - Brendan Gallagher
Rene Bourque - Tomas Plekanec - Brian Gionta
Alex Galchenyuk - Lars Eller - Michael Ryder
Travis Moen - Jeff Halpern - Colby Armstrong

Andrei Markov - Yannick Weber
Francis Bouillon - P.K. Subban
Josh Gorges - Raphael Diaz

Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Devils:

Patrik Elias - Travis Zajac - David Clarkson
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Andrei Loktionov - Ilya Kovalchuk
Dainius Zubrus - Jacob Josefson - Steve Sullivan
Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier

Anton Volchenkov - Marek Zidlicky
Andy Greene - Adam Larsson
Peter Harrold - Alex Urbom

Notes: Martin Brodeur will start...Krys Barch, Tom Kostopoulos, Mike Sislo, Harri Pesonen and Adam Henrique will be the scratches up front...Bryce Salvador (wrist), Henrik Tallinder and Mark Fayne are expected to be the scratches on defense.

Canadiens to watch:

Michael Ryder - He has really found his game since being acquired by Montreal as he has 21 points in 24 games.

Andrei Markov - After an excellent start to the season, the veteran defenseman has just three points in his last 10 games and a -10 rating in that span.

Carey Price - Price has had a tough time stopping pucks of late as he's allowed 22 goals in his last six starts.

Devils to watch:

Andrei Loktionov - After getting off to a great start in New Jersey, Loktionov has really struggled of late recording just one point in his last eight games.

Adam Larsson - With the Devils officially eliminated from playoff contention, it makes sense to increase Larsson's workload a little bit and see what he can do. After playing less than 19 minutes in eight of 10 games, Larsson has played 19 or more in two consecutive games.

Alex Urbom - Urbom will be getting his first look with the Devils this season. You can bet he'll be looking to make a good impression and try and get the jump on a roster spot for next season.

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