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Habs visit the Red Wings as they embark on a 5 game road trip |
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The Montreal Canadiens visit the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night in what will be their first game of a five city, twelve day road trip. They will hit sunny California and take on the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings before stopping to play the St. Louis Blues for their last match on their way back home. While the Canadiens are dominating on home ice with a 12-1-1 record, they are decidedly mediocre on the road with a record of 3-3-1. However, if they are able to go at least .500 on this undoubtedly difficult road trip, it will likely be considered a success.
Unfortunately, Charles Hudon has suffered a fractured sternum and will be out indefinitely.
It is such a twisted turn of events for Hudon who has been patiently waiting for a real opportunity to play over the last couple of seasons. With four assists in just six NHL games, Hudon has demonstrated that he has the talent to play in the big leagues. His primary assist to Andrew Shaw against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night was evidence that the Canadiens could use his offensive skills in the lineup.
There was a bit of good news though as Artturi Lehkonen has been cleared to play and will return to the lineup tonight against Detroit. With only a goal and two assists in his first 12 NHL games, Lehkonen will be looking to cement his place back in the lineup. He has shown flashes of superior skill but needs to be more accurate with his shot. Lehkonen is a very smart player though and is able to contribute to the Canadiens defensively even if he does not get onto the scoreboard. Meanwhile, the injured reserve list continues to shrink as Zach Redmond was assigned to the St. John’s Ice Caps of the AHL on a conditioning stint. Carey Price will get the start in net and Daniel Carr will get back into the lineup while Chris Terry will be a healthy scratch. The lines for tonight’s game will be:
Byron-Galchenyuk-Radulov
Pacioretty-Plekanec-Gallagher
Lehkonen-Desharnais-Shaw
Danault-Mitchell-Carr
The defence remains the same as Nathan Beaulieu continues to recover from having his throat hit by a puck.
The Red Wings sit sixth in the Atlantic division, 11 points behind the leading Canadiens. They are coming off a 5-4 overtime Friday night against the New Jersey Devils although they lost goaltender Jimmy Howard to a groin injury during the match. Petr Mrazek came into the game in relief to lead the Red Wings and will be in goal again tonight against the Canadiens. The expected lines should be:
Tatar-Zetterberg-Mantha
Abdelkader-Nielsen-Glendening
Nyquist-Larkin-Vanek
Ott-Sheahan-Bertuzzi
Defense:
DeKeyser-Green
Ericsson-Sproul
Kronwall-Smith
On a side note, I would like to wish former Canadiens forward Brandon Prust well as he continues his hockey career in Germany:
Five questions for tonight’s game:
1) Will Artturi Lehkonen be able to step up after having missed the last three weeks with his injury or will he have to shake off the rust?
2) How much longer will Paul Byron stay on the Canadiens first line?
3) Max Pacioretty broke through to score the game winning goal against the Hurricanes by going to the net and capitalizing on a rebound. Is this the start of a new hot streak for him?
4) Will the Canadiens top four defensemen get overtaxed on the road or will Mark Barberio and Greg Pateryn be able to step up and provide quality third unit minutes?
5) What will be the final score?
Cheers and follow along!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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