Checking From Behind Pulling No Punches

Seeing as last week's live blog was a success, I thought today's matinee would be a good opportunity to do another one. Updates can be seen live during the game at this link.

The Canadiens, coming off two victories that should have been losses, host the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The last couple of times these two teams met, it wasn't all that fun for the Habs. Their late October meeting at Mellon Arena yielded a 6-1 victory for the Pens. Sidney Crosby had his first of many hat tricks this season, and Jaroslav Halak was pulled before the third period. 

The second meeting between these two clubs, in November, yielded a 3-1 victory for the Pens. Crosby shined yet again, scoring a goal and adding an assist, and Carey Price looked weak, albeit while stopping 27 shots. It was, however, a closer contest than the one in October, and it got even closer in December at the Bell Centre. Pittsburgh did win 3-2, almost doubling the Canadiens' shots, but those kinds of statistics have come to be expected from the Habs. Carey Price stopped 38 of the Pens 41 shots but took the loss. Marc-Andre Fleury got his third straight win against the Habs.

Fleury and the Pens will look to make it a clean sweep this afternoon, but with the Canadiens playing better and better in every game against the Pens this season, it could be a close one. Jaroslav Halak has been A+, and the Canadiens have found ways to win games despite being severely outplayed in recent games.

The Canadiens will look to make it 3 in a row against red-hot Sidney Crosby and the Pens, but just like against the Canucks and agaisnt the Bruins, it will be a difficult task. Can Jaroslav Halak have another 45 game performance? Can the Canadiens take advantage of Fleury, just like they did Roberto Luongo and Tuuka Rask? Tune in today at 2PM to find out, as we will be covering the game LIVE here on TCL!

LINE-UP NOTES:

Benoit Pouliot and Marc-Andre Bergeron will miss this weekend's games. Bergeron took a shot in the third period of the Bruins game on Thursday, and Pouliot is out with an upper-body injury. Along with them, Yannick Weber and Matt D'Agostini will be healthy scratches.

Taking their place as a 4th line unit will be David Desharnais, Ryan White, and making his NHL debut, Brock Trotter.

Tomas Plekanec and Sergei Kostitsyn, who took therapy days on Friday, will be in the line-up.

*Note: Injured players are omitted from stat leaders.

WHAT THE STATS SAY:

Goaltending is key in this game. The only way the Canadiens are going to stop Sidney Crosby, who seems determined to win the Maurice Richard trophy this year, is by receiving the same performance from Jaroslav Halak as they did the last two games. With Halak making over 90 saves in the last two games though, that may be easier said than done. The team's saving grace is that Marc-Andre Fleury hasn't looked exactly like a Stanley Cup winning goaltender. He hasn't been bad, but his stats haven't been all that great either. And while he's been great against Montreal, the Canadiens will need to find a way to stop that trend. With the Habs three best offensive weapons out with injuries though (Bergeron, Pouliot, and of course, Cammalleri) that's going to be easier said than done.

Again, tune back into TCL for live game updates starting at 2PM, and enjoy the game! Until then, read yesterday's Habs/Bruins game review, and answer 10 questions inspired by (stolen from) Eric Engels).

See you all at 2!



Prax
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