Jean-Gabriel Pageau's demotion back to Binghamton wasn't very long at all. Following injuries to Chris Neil on Saturday and Clarke MacArthur on Monday, Pageau was recalled yesterday and skated on a line this morning with Erik Condra and Curtis Lazar.
Shane Prince, who equated himself pretty well in his NHL debut on Monday, replacing Pageau on the roster, will once again play, this time alongside David Legwand and Alex Chiasson, while Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan flank Mika Zibanejad and Kyle Turris centres Milan Michalek and Mark Stone.
Patrick Wiercioch will come out of the lineup and Mark Borowiecki will come back in. And also, by all estimation the Jared Cowen-Cody Ceci pairing will be reunited after the tough outing each had when they were split up against the Canes.
The injury bug is also being felt in the crease, as Robin Lehner didn't skate today and Chris Dreidger was called up from the ECHL to serve as the backup to Andrew Hammond, who will make his first career start after playing the last 21 minutes on Monday and allowing a pair of power play goals. Monday night was just Hammond's second career appearance, following a relief effort against the Red Wings in a 6-1 loss last February.
You have to think the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Canadiens are licking their chops at the prospect of facing Hammond, who hasn't exactly lit up the AHL this season (3.51 GAA, .898 SP), let alone stop NHL shooters.
On the other hand, as strong as the Habs have been this season, for some reason they tend to overlook teams and lose games they should have no problem winning. They have won 7 of their last 10, but their last 3 losses have come at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers and Phoenix Coyotes. In fact, the Habs have won just 1 of 5 total games against the two cellar dwelling Sabres and Oilers.
The night after Ottawa drubbed Arizona 7-2, it was Louis Domingue making his first NHL start for the Coyotes in Montreal and he ended up beating the Habs, so Montreal has shown the ability to drop decisions to netminders making their first starts.