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Game Thread | Toronto vs. Montreal | 10/15/05


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toronto200.gif <img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/Jason/Game%20Thread/VS.gif> montreal200.gif

toronto50.gif2-1-2 : 6 Points (7th in the Eastern Conference)

montreal50.gif4-1-0 : 8 Points (4th in the Eastern Conference)

Projected goalies for this game are:

0628.gif# 20 Ed Belfour (1-1-2), 3.14 GAA toronto50.gif

montreal50.gif# 60 Jose Theodore (3-1-0), 3.00 GAA 0198.gif

Maple Leafs Roster

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Canadiens Roster

Link

<P align="center">

13453.gifhabs-w.gif13454.gif

Perezhogin - Koivu - Kovalev

Dagenais - Ribeiro - Ryder

Bulis - Bonk - Sundstrom

Higgins - Plekanec - Begin

13457.gif

Markov - Komisarek

Bouillon - Rivet

Souray - Dandenault

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Jose Theodore

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Meetings This Year:

Oct. 8th, 2005:montreal50.gif5 toronto50.gif4

CanadiensVSLeafs.gif

SourayhitsTucker.jpg

This game can be seen 7:00pm eastern on <img src=http://www.jeuxete2003.com/menu/logo_RDS.gif> & <img src=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/Jason/Game%20Thread/CBC.jpg>

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Listen to the game live on CJAD 800 AM

[Edited on 2005/10/15 by Spider-Man NL]

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http://www.canada.com/sports/hockey/canadi...79-e72cb30a1f74

MONTREAL (CP) - Jose Theodore has been ordinary, Richard Zednik is injured and the second line has been flat, and yet the Montreal Canadiens are off to a flying start.

The Canadiens are 4-1 going into a meeting Saturday night against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. Montreal needed a late goal by Mike Ribeiro to beat the Leafs 5-4 in Toronto a week ago. "I hope it will be a little different," coach Claude Julien said. "The last time, we were playing our third game in five nights, so there was an accumulated fatigue factor.

"This time, that's not the case."

Not for Montreal, which is coming off a 2-0 win in Atlanta on Wednesday.

The Leafs had to play in Atlanta on Friday night, then fly to Montreal to face a team that has been finding many ways to win early in the NHL season.

In Atlanta, rookie Yann Danis got the shutout in his first NHL game, but Theodore is expected to be back in goal Saturday night for the first of four home games over an 11-day span.

Theodore played well in wins in Boston and New York, but not so well in the victory in Toronto or in a 4-2 loss to Ottawa in Montreal's home opener on Tuesday night. He has a so-so 3.00 goals-against average and a tepid .881 save percentage.

"As a goalie, you don't look at the number of goals, you just make sure there are no weak ones," said Theodore. "That's what I'm not happy about.

"Since the beginning of the season, I gave up a couple of bad goals."

Goaltending coach Roland Melanson said Thursday he saw "a hole" in Theodore's butterfly technique, allowing pucks to slip between his blocker and his body, and would try to correct it over the next week.

Theodore, the 2002 Hart and Vezina trophy winner, said there were only normal early-season adjustments to be made.

"There's always things you have to work on," said Theodore. "I've had some good games but I've also let in some bad goals.

"In goaltending, there's a lot of technical stuff. Right now, we're working on a couple of details and once we correct them, we'll find other things to work on. That's the way it is."

So far, the Canadiens haven't needed Theodore to be always at the top of his game. Nor have they missed top sniper Zednik, who left the season-opening game on Oct. 5 with a groin injury and who will likely be out another week to 10 days.

Speedy rookie Alexander Perezhogin, 22, has a pair of goals in Zednik's spot on left wing of the top line with captain Saku Koivu and veteran Alex Kovalev.

"We thought we'd have to be patient with him, but we didn't have to wait long," Julien said of Perezhogin. "He's played very well."

Perezhogin is best known as the player who gave a two-handed slash to the face of an opponent two seasons ago and was suspended for a year by the American Hockey League. So far, he hasn't even taken a minor penalty in the NHL.

"That was uncharacteristic of him," Julien said of the Perezhogin slash. "For me, it's about him knowing we've turned the page on that and that we just want him to use his skills."

Ribeiro, Michael Ryder and Pierre Dagenais, the second line, are each minus-3 so far and haven't created many chances beyond Ribeiro's goal in Toronto.

Ryder has three goals, but only one was scored while playing at even strength with his linemates.

But the third line of Radek Bonk, Jan Bulis and Niklas Sundstrom has been solid and the fourth line of Steve Begin with rookies Christopher Higgins and Tomas Plekanec has excelled. Begin, a checking centre who has moved to the wing, has two goals.

"He's so respected by his teammates for what he does," said Julien. "He picks up our bench every time he blocks a shot or makes a big hit."

There have also been surprisingly strong performances on defence from Andrei Markov and Francis Bouillon.

Markov, who played on Russia's top defence pairing at the world championships in May, leads the team in ice time with an average of 26 minutes seven seconds per game, including on power plays and penalty killing.

The stocky Bouillon, once feared to be too small to play defence in the NHL, seems to be flourishing under a crackdown on obstruction.

"At first I didn't think it would help me, but after five games, I think it's going to help smaller players if they have skill," said Bouillon, who turns 30 on Monday.

The Canadiens are without enforcer Raitis Ivanans, who came out of a fight with Ottawa's Zdeno Chara on Tuesday with a fractured orbital bone in his left eye - the same injury sustained Leafs captain Mats Sundin, who was hit in the eye by a puck.

Sundin is out for six to eight weeks. Ivanans, who was flattened by two rights from the six-foot-nine Chara, is out indefinitely.

© The Canadian Press 2005

<img src=http://www.vscollectables.com/images/cards/Titanium/04Titanium-Theodore.jpg>

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http://www.canada.com/sports/hockey/canadi...b2-2998c1f1bf0f

Habs' workhorse. Shy Russian rearguard has seen ice time soar

He's the Canadien nobody knows.

His comments rarely appear in public print and you never see him interviewed on Sports Night or Sports 30.

But it will be difficult not to notice Andrei Markov tonight when the Canadiens take on the archrival Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, RDS, CJAD Radio-800).

The 27-year-old Russian has emerged as the workhorse of the Canadiens' defence. He averages more than 26 minutes a game and that's more than any other Montreal skater. "I like playing a lot," Markov said as he put time in on the stationary bike after yesterday's practice.

Markov said he's not a fan of the new rules but they are partially responsible for the fact that he's on the ice for about five minutes a game more than he was in the 2003-04 season. The strict enforcement of obstruction means there are more penalties and, as a result, there's more work for Markov, who sees action as a penalty-killer and on the power play.

When asked if he was having his best year since coming to the NHL in 2000, Markov said he wasn't in a position to answer the question.

"You have to ask the coach about that," he said.

"He's played well for us, but I don't think you've seen his best hockey yet," said Rick Green, the Canadiens' assistant coach responsible for tutoring the defence. "The new rules have been especially tough on the defencemen, but players like Andrei can make the adjustment quicker than others because he's a skilled player.

"The new rules require a defenceman to play a lot of one-on-one coverage and Andrei excels at that because he has a lot of pride," Green added. "He hates to get beat."

Through five games, Markov is a solid plus-2 in the plus/minus ratings and the main disappointment is that he has only one assist to show for his time on the power play. In the past, Markov has seldom been interviewed because (a) he didn't speak much English or French and (B) he's shy.

"He doesn't speak much more in Russian," one teammate noted.

Markov guards his private life, but he noted that he was enjoying a visit from his 4-year-old son who lives in Russia.

Language was a problem when Markov first reported to the NHL. He split his first two seasons between the Canadiens and the Quebec Citadelles, but became a full-time NHLer in 2002-03 when he posted career highs for goals (13) and points (37).

"The language was difficult in the beginning, but Andrei's a very smart player," Green said. "He picked up the North American game quickly and you can see his intelligence in the way he plays the game, the way he sees the ice and moves the puck."

While Markov is still shy, yesterday's interview demonstrated that he understands and speaks English well.

He talked about returning home to Russia during the lockout, but he dismissed reports that he was considering an offer to remain in the Russian League.

"The money is very good in Russia," he conceded, "but this is where I always wanted to play."

Markov noted that the best players are in the NHL and that the smaller rinks in North America make for a quicker game.

Markov was the top defenceman in the Russian League as a 20-year-old but his size - he's barely 6 feet - might have scared away some NHL teams and the Canadiens were able to draft him in the sixth round of the 1998 entry draft when Rejean Houle was the general manager.

Jose Theodore will be back in nets tonight.

phickey@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005

MarkovGame.jpg

[Edited on 2005/10/15 by Spider-Man NL]

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so it turns out the CBC doesn't understand NHL standings. As of yesterday it was listing montreal as 3rd in the northeast, even though they are clearly 2nd (goal differential being the arbiter). I don't know if this was incompetence or what, but i sent them a very polite letter telling them to reprogram.

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Its gonna be another one of those memorable evenings for Habs as well as true and knowledegeable hockey fans. Too bad it ain't our true rival the Bs playing. I expect the cbc/hnic leaf shills to try and take this shining moment off of the Montreal Canadiens and focus on the despicable headhunting and perennial loser leaf. A Habs victory will be icing.

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*la presse* says that zednik is not going to be back until 1 week or so (7 to 10 days) but that he'll start to skate soon... TAKE UR TIME ZED!!! TAAAAKE UR TIIIIME ;)

yeah~ leafs r too old to afford 2 big nites in a row which means habs r going to win tonite RIGHT BOYS??? hehe~

note about kovalev : in *la presse* again, it says that kovy is *stealing* some ice-time~ for example, at atlanta, when the trashers took off their goalie, kovalev was just finishing his shift with koivu and perezhogin and he stayed on the ice and *stole* ryder's ice time and turn~ and against ottawa, he stayed on the ice a lil bit longer on 2 powerplays~

coach julien is conscient about this but says that maybe bcoz kovy LOVE to play and be on the ice that sumtimes it's hard for him to get back on the bench~ but they had a talk about this and it should be ok from now on~ julien said that he once sent ribeiro in the press box for a game due to the same reason (2003-2004) (even if ribeiro was leading the team in the scoreboard) and everybody is equal in this team so what he did on ribeiro is applicable on anybody~

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Markov was the top defenceman in the Russian League as a 20-year-old but his size - he's barely 6 feet - might have scared away some NHL teams and the Canadiens were able to draft him in the sixth round of the 1998 entry draft when Rejean Houle was the general manager.  

Didn't we draft him as a center and then convert him to defence?

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Tonight is the game the Habs will "honor" 3 players and retire their jerseys.

From what I keep hearing, 3 players will be honored but only 2 jerseys will be retired: Bernard Geoffrion's #5 and Dickie Moore/Yvan Cournoyer's #12.

Should be pretty nice ceremonies. Who can remember the last time they saw a game where the Habs retired a number?

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Originally posted by Toren

Markov was the top defenceman in the Russian League as a 20-year-old but his size - he's barely 6 feet - might have scared away some NHL teams and the Canadiens were able to draft him in the sixth round of the 1998 entry draft when Rejean Houle was the general manager.  

Didn't we draft him as a center and then convert him to defence?

Yes and no. On his draft year Markov was already playing C & D. He became a full time D the season after his draft year.

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from the tsn.ca preview:

"Unbeaten on the road, the Montreal Canadiens are still looking for their first win of the season at the Bell Centre as they open a four-game homestand against the bloodied and bruised Toronto Maple Leafs."

Wow.

1) We've played 1 home game asshole! How many games have the leafs lost?

2) bloodied and bruised? Your leafs just won 9-1. They can't take some darcy tucker play from the other team? Whining wusses.

Ahhh... okay, got that out.

Go Habs.... and... Go Hoosiers!

[Edited on 10/15/2005 by simonus]

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Originally posted by simonus

from the tsn.ca preview:

"Unbeaten on the road, the Montreal Canadiens are still looking for their first win of the season at the Bell Centre as they open a four-game homestand against the bloodied and bruised Toronto Maple Leafs."

Wow.

1)  We've played 1 home game asshole!  How many games have the leafs lost?

2) bloodied and bruised?  Your leafs just won 9-1.  They can't take some darcy tucker play from the other team?  Whining wusses.

Ahhh... okay, got that out.

Go Habs.... and... Go Hoosiers!

[Edited on 10/15/2005 by simonus]

Hey TSN 1967! 1967! 1967!

I predict leafs will win the cup...NEVER AGAIN!

Funny when yo log into TSN and start saying anything Leaf negative on "Your Call" they never post it.

Tonight the Habs will shine once again with their speed and transition game. All Pat Quinn will be doing is:

50753814.cryingbaby6qc.jpg

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Originally posted by johnnyhasbeen

Should be pretty nice ceremonies. Who can remember the last time they saw a game where the Habs retired a number?

You dont remember the Flower?

:o

I was born in 79. They retired his number when he retired in 84. I was 5 yrs old back then. I was probably sound asleep during the game ceremonies. :P

Actually, I think the last number the Habs retired is #1. It was kept in circulation for a long time. After Jacques Plante died, some ppl started petitionning the Habs to retire it.

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