Game Thread | Montreal vs. Pittsburgh | 11/10/05

[Swiss-Habsfan]

tonight, it's time for Mark Streit to score his first NHL-Goal!!!

[simonus]

Originally posted by shortcat1

Originally posted by GOHABSGO22

How did that picture get into my box? I never put a picture on my profile.

That happened to me too. I asked the same question and was told that it was likely a glitch in the system. Wayne Gretzky's only supposed to show up when you hit post 99.

there seems to be some error that when someone hits post 99, gretzky is used as the picture for all the avatars below on the same page.

The avatar picutre is drawn from the users' DB and there is some hardcoded exception written into post.php. it seems to be written right now that once the trigger for the exception is set off, it does not reset.

Edit: I realize this bug is a little more complicated than it seems. I'd be happy to try to debug if any mod is interested.

[Edited on 11/10/2005 by simonus]

[GoHabs2002]

Pens lost last night..Lemieux, Crosby (crosby especially) might have overlooked last night's game for tonight.

I'd expect an impressive performance from Crosby and at least a 2 pt. night from Lemieux. Look for Thibault to struggle.

Big win tonight!

6-3 Habs.

Habs goals: Kovelov, Zednik, Ryder (2), Perezhogin, Souray

Kovelov with 3 pts, Koivu with 2 pts, Ribeiro with 2 assists

Pens Goals: Gonchar, Crosby, Koltsov

Lemieux two points, Recchi 1 assist

Three stars: 3- Lemieux 2- Theo 1 -Kovelov

[Rooster]

I'm looking for the Pens to really be hungry for a win vs the Habs, Crosby, Mario and TBO in particular. Think a lot will depend on the habs game plan. If they play conservative, they should get a close win.....if they open it up, it could be a real wild one. Will in any event be a very interesting game. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Little prediction: Habs 6 / Pens 4 (with a wild third period)

TBO has a GAA of over 5!!!!

[Leafs Suck]

Saku owns the Penguins

30 career games against Pittsburgh, 37 points...

So does Jose... 11-3 record all-time vs PGH

[The Iron Lung]

8-4 Habs. Those Penguin pylons on defense can't deal with our speed.

[les_glorieux]

same score as that one game last year: 8-0

[Rooster]

Got the feeling that this could be a BIG night for Kovalev. His puck skills could really be showcased against the Pens D.

[thehabbit]

Originally posted by mathieug

Alex Kovalevs' career statistics: 298 goals, 399 assists going into tonights game with his former team.

....interesting a possible night of milestones for kovalev

:ghg:

and go kovalev go

[Mont Royale]

The game is on TSN tonight, for those of us without RDS.

Go :hlogo: Go!!

[kaos]

LEts hope Kovalev scores twice and assists once to reach both milestones

[Begin&Higgins]

i'm gonna say 7-2 Habs.

I think both Mario and Sid the Kid score, but the Pittsburgh D is so brutal Montreal should have no trouble getting good scoring chances.

GO HABS GO

[MexicanChannel]

Originally posted by kaos

LEts hope Kovalev scores twice and assists once to reach both milestones

That would also give him his 700th point!

I would love to see both of them live.

Only 5 and a half more hours!!

[Howie_Morenz]

Wow, lots of goal scoring predictions....

I believe this is one game the Habs should win and by a 4-3 score. Don't forget Mario is on Pittsburg so they will probably score 3.

[Begin&Higgins]

Anybody know if Sergei Gonchar is playing. I heard he has a groin injury and is questionable to play.

Any info is appreciated. There D is already brutal, a big loss like this could really help the Habs.

[Mont Royale]

Originally posted by Howie_Morenz

Wow, lots of goal scoring predictions....

I believe this is one game the Habs should win and by a 4-3 score. Don't forget Mario is on Pittsburg so they will probably score 3.

This will probably be a lot closer than some of the others. Maybe we want to predict a multi-goal margin based on that scientifically grounded theory "it's gotta happen sometime"? :eyes:

[CoRvInA]

I heard Marc-André Fleury is being brought up ... If I were Lemieux I would put Fleury instead of thibault! What do they have to lose!

[lazy26]

Originally posted by CoRvInA

I heard Marc-André Fleury is being brought up ... If I were Lemieux I would put Fleury instead of thibault! What do they have to lose!

besides the game?

[Spider-Man NL]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=142569&hubname=

Sidney Crosby grew up in Nova Scotia cheering on 'Les Glorieux." Tonight, the only thought on his mind will be trying to beat them.

The NHL's teen phenom goes head-to head with the team he once idolized as the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Montreal Canadiens. The game can be seen live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt and can also be seen on TSN High Definition.

When asked back in March about which team he would love to play for, Crosby picked his favourite childhood team - who drafted his father Troy back in 1984.

"My dream was to always play with Montreal," Crosby told TSN's Gord Miller in March. "That's the first thing that comes to mind. It depends on the situation, but I think that would be my dream come true - to play for Montreal."

That certainly doesn't mean he's unhappy playing in Pittsburgh. With 16 games under his belt, Crosby leads the team in scoring and leads all rookies in scoring with 19 points.

The Penguins are trying to bounce back from their most lopsided loss of the season, a 5-0 setback at Atlanta on Tuesday to close out a five-game road trip.

Pittsburgh goalie Sebastien Caron left the game with a strained left quadriceps. Jocelyn Thibault is set to start in net tonight.

"It's too early to say much about it," Caron said. "You don't want to stay in and let it get worse."

Pittsburgh, held without a win in its first nine games, settled for a 3-2 road trip. With a win, the Penguins would have had the best five-game trip in franchise history.

"Overall we have played some good hockey on this trip, but tonight I think we were a step slow," Pittsburgh coach Eddie Olczyk said. "We did not take the advantage on any of our opportunities."

Jose Theodore hopes to lead the red-hot Canadiens to their sixth straight win. Theodore, who won both the Vezina trophy and MVP award in 2002, had won four straight starts and 10 of 14 overall this season.

"The last seven or eight games I've been feeling well," said the 29-year-old goaltender. "I've been trying to build on little details and make the little adjustments that allow me to make the big saves. I'm just concentrating on my stuff and the guys are taking care of the rest. It's fun to see them working hard like that."

On Tuesday, Theodore stopped 32 shots and Richard Zednik scored midway through the third period as the Canadiens topped the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2.

Theodore was asked if his performance in the second was his best period of the season after he stopped 13 of 14 shots while Montreal managed just two shots.

"I don't know, it's up to you to decide," said Theodore. "I'm just there to stop the puck. I'm just concentrating on making every save I can and from there - we were down a goal and the guys came back to win the third period."

Defensemen Andrei Markov and Craig Rivet scored power-play goals to help the Eastern Conference-leading Canadiens extend their winning streak to five. Montreal, 12-3-1 overall, including nine wins by one goal, tied the third-best start in franchise history with 25 points through 16 games.

[Spider-Man NL]

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect...newsItemID=4486

PITTSBURGH – Despite the cool temperatures outside, the Canadiens continue to heat up the city of Montreal. Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, Claude Julien’s charges erased a 2-1 deficit after 40 minutes for a 3-2 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The victory extended the team’s winning streak to five games and improved its Eastern Conference leading record to 12-3-1, the third best start in franchise history after 16 games.

Thursday night at Mellon Arena, the Canadiens will look to make it six in a row for the first time since the 2001-02 season, when they won seven straight from March 28 to April 9, propelling them into the postseason.

Currently holding a 6-0-1 record in seven games away from the Bell Centre, Montreal will also be hoping to remain unbeaten in regulation. The Canadiens have given up just one point on the road, in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators on Oct. 27. A win would give the club its best road start after eight games in team history, pushing aside the 1997-98 mark of 7-1-0.

The Penguins, meanwhile, concluded a five-game road trip with a 5-0 loss to Atlanta Wednesday night. With three wins during the trip, Pittsburgh improved its overall record to 4-7-5. Ed Olczyk’s troops, who had a rough start to the 2005-06 season going winless in its first nine games, have seen the tide begin to turn in their favor of late, recording four wins and three losses in their last seven matchups.

Tonight marks the first of four meetings between the two clubs this season. The Canadiens swept the season series in 2003-04, outscoring the Penguins 20-5 over the four game set. Montreal also holds the edge in the all-time meetings since Pittsburgh joined the NHL in 167-68, with a 103-38-23 record, including a 15-2-2 record since 1999-2000.

Canadiens vs the phenoms: With Sidney Crosby arguably the biggest thing to hit the NHL since Eric Lindros, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, the question becomes, how have the Canadiens fared when facing these young phenoms for the first time? Gretzky was the only one to beat the Canadiens with his Oilers downing Montreal 5-3 in Edmonton back on Dec. 14, 1979. Lemieux will be hoping that Crosby is more successful than he was at the Forum on Oct. 13, 1984 when he and the Penguins were edged 4-3 by the Canadiens. Lindros lost a 7-6 shootout to the Canadiens at the Spectrum in Philadelphia on Oct. 24, 1991.

Looking into the Canadiens’ Cristobal: Well ahead of schedule, goalie Cristobal Huet took part in his first team practice on Wednesday before the Canadiens left for Pittsburgh. In a strange turn of events Huet will be Jose Theodore’s backup tonight, while Yann Danis will play a pair of games in Hamilton on Thursday and Friday before returning in time for Saturday’s showdown with the Leafs. Huet would then be send down for a conditioning stint before doing what he was signed to do prior to suffering a serious knee injury while playing in Germany last season — back up Jose Theodore.

“It felt great to just be out there with all the guys for the first time,” said Huet the former Kings netminder, who was acquired as part of the Radek deal that sent Mathieu Garon to Los Angeles. “Sure I’ve already met everyone, but being on the ice is just different. Today I really felt like I was a Montreal Canadien for the first time.”

Claude Julien made it clear that he had no intention of Huet seeing any action in Pittsburgh.

“Sure we’re taking a bit of risk,” admitted Julien. “But it’s one were comfortable with and that we think is going to help us in the long run. Playing those two games in two nights will only help Yann.”

Raitis is Alright… almost: There was a sizable addition at practice on Wednesday but he would have been a little difficult to recognize. Raitis Ivanans was back skating with the team, but wearing a full-face visor to protect his healing fractured orbital bone. No time table has been set for the 263-pound Latvian’s return, but Claude Julien did say that he is still a few weeks away.

“He is still very much in our plans,” said Julien after being asked why Ivanans had been placed on waivers. “He needs to do a conditioning stint of a couple of weeks in Hamilton with the Bulldogs, and that wouldn’t be possible unless we placed him on waivers. Anytime a player goes through waivers you always hope no one picks them up, but in Ivanans’ case, he needs get back into game shape and we really didn’t have a choice.”

Chicken soup, anyone? Pierre Dagenais was the latest Canadien to be hit with the flu bug that’s been making its way through the dressing room, with Dagenais being forced to miss practice on Wednesday in addition to not making the trip to Pittsburgh. It is worth noting that Dagenais does sit only two stalls over from flu-ridden Steve Begin who is just starting to feel better himself.

Head and Shoulders: Jan Bulis got some good news about the injury to his left shoulder he suffered against the Sabres on Saturday, as the Czech centre isn’t expected to miss much more action. Bulis did not make the trip and will continue working with strength and conditioning coordinator Scott Livingston.

Radek’s Return: Radek Bonk will be back in the lineup tonight against the Penguins after missing the last five games with a groin injury.

Manny Almela is a writer for canadiens.com

Cristobal Huet (pictured with goaltending coach Roland Melanson) will be dressed for his first game as a Canadien tonight, serving as Jose Theodore's back-up.

[Edited on 2005/11/10 by Spider-Man NL]

[Howie_Morenz]

Originally posted by Mont Royale

Originally posted by Howie_Morenz

Wow, lots of goal scoring predictions....

I believe this is one game the Habs should win and by a 4-3 score. Don't forget Mario is on Pittsburg so they will probably score 3.

This will probably be a lot closer than some of the others. Maybe we want to predict a multi-goal margin based on that scientifically grounded theory "it's gotta happen sometime"? :eyes:

I would enjoy a scientifically grounded theory tonight for once. :):):):)

[bebehabs]

tbo is in the net tonite so... 8-3 HABS hehehe

[Rooster]

Did they bring up Fleury as backup or is that just a rumour?

[Rooster]

Answered my own question. Caron is injured and MAF was called up to replace him. Sorry for that.

[BTH]

Thibault is starting. Why would they bring up Fleury? Caron is playing great and Thibault is playing like a back-up, which he has become. Besides, he'd probably get taken off waivers.

Man, we've really gotta win tonight. My friend is the only Pens fan in the school and he gets made fun of everyday for it (even my teacher today: Do you like hockey? Yeah. Do the Penguins suck? Yeah!!). It'll be pretty embarassing if we lose tonight. The problem with trash-talking is that if you don't do what you promised than you get trash-talked double after it's over. If we win 8-0 or something that would be perfect but I think my 6-3 prediction might be accurate. I haven't been right on a single game so far.