Quick Hits; Canadiens host Sabres, by Andrew Saadalla (habs news)

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Quick Hits; Canadiens host Sabres, by Andrew Saadalla

By Habs Talk

Jan 31, 2017 • 2:51 pm

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As the All-Star break is over and fans ready themselves to watch real and meaningful hockey, the Montreal Canadiens host the Buffalo Sabres tonight in an Atlantic Division showdown. The last time out, the Sabres gave the Habs a run for their money as both goaltenders Carey Price and Robin Lehner put on a dazzling display of back-to-back game-stealing saves before the latter’s team won in overtime.

It started with Price’s heroic glove save with only 6.3 seconds to go in regulation time in a 2-2 game:

And Lehner one-upped Price with a save of the year candidate in overtime:

Here are a few quick hits ahead of game #51 tonight:

Andrei Markov and David Desharnais are back in action tonight after missing several games due to injuries. Desharnais will center the third line flanked by Sven Andrighetto and Andrew Shaw:

There’s no telling how effective a rather short line combination- no one is taller than 5’ 10… Andrighetto- but perhaps Desharnais can once again find his niche behind the net and feed either wingers. Shaw will once again be expected to crash the net on a regular basis while Andrighetto gets open for a shot.

It looks like newly-acquired defenseman Nikita Nesterov will be fortunate enough to play next to his Russian counterpart Markov, as the former will line up to the latter’s right. He looks forward to learning a lot from Markov:

Adjustments to the defensive pairings will be made by head coach Michel Therrien, as Jeff Petry is feeling ill while Greg Pateryn, who has been practicing with the team, could be a last-minute addition to the lineup:

Speaking of defensemen, Zach Redmond has cleared waivers and has been reassigned to the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps. As general manager Marc Bergevin always said, “you can never have too many defensemen…:

Meanwhile, Alex Galchenyuk who was initially expected to return only at around the upcoming weekend could find himself back in the lineup as early as Thursday evening:

In my last poll, I asked if you believed Markov would return this week or if we would have to wait a little longer. It turns out 50.85% of you were correct, while 49.15% were sceptical (and with good reason based on the organization’s history of mistakenly predicting when players would return from injuries).

Rumor: Hockey Insider Darren Dreger was on TSN690 earlier today and confirmed that Bergevin is interested in acquiring the services of Colorado Avalanche star Matt Duchene. If the Arizona Coyotes' asking price for Martin Hanzal was Michael McCarron, a first-round and a second-round pick, how much more expensive will Duchene be?

Finally, the Laval Rocket have unveiled their new logo and jerseys less than an hour ago:

What do you think, Habs fans?

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