dlbalr

I'm not as tough on Snow, he has a budget of below the cap floor to work with every year. They've kept prospects up when they weren't ready solely to use the bonus cushion as an excuse to keep payroll down, that's not on him. I wouldn't call him a great GM but I wouldn't say he's terrible either. It's hard to compete with what he has to work with, Edmonton doesn't have that same excuse.

That wasn't too good of a 2nd period, that's for sure. The defence looks sloppy again while the powerplay execution...well, it's about on par with what it has been lately (not too good). Winning the odd faceoff might help the cause too.

The penalty summary for a moment was pretty funny. Eller had a holding penalty and apparently NHL.com confused him with Emelin as for a few minutes, the record had Chara fighting Eller 40 seconds later.

By the way, the second goal has since been officially changed to Desharnais (unassisted). They did. Straight up for Andrew Raycroft (who has a losing record in the Italian Serie A this year).

Pretty good period overall, the Habs were a lot better in their own end (save for the goal where Subban chased the wrong guy). As for the lines, Moen and Galchenyuk seemed to flip-flop depending on the situation. Don't forget Steve Tambellini, whose idea of building a contender literally is to do nothing productive and try to win the lottery year after year.

Montreal Canadiens (13-4-4) Forwards Defence & Goalies Prust - Plekanec - Gionta Pacioretty - Desharnais - Gallagher Eller - Galchenyuk - Ryder Moen - White - Armstrong Markov - Emelin Gorges - Bouillon Kaberle - Subban Budaj/Price Not Expected to Play Scratches: Dumont, Weber Injured: Nokelainen, Bourque, Diaz Boston Bruins (14-2-2) Forwards Defence & Goalies Lucic - Krejci - Horton Marchand - Bergeron - Seguin Bourque - Kelly - Peverley Paille - Campbell - Thornton Chara - Boychuk Seidenberg - Hamilton Ference - McQuaid Rask/Khudobin Not Expected to Play Scratches: MacDermid, Pandolfo, Johnson Injured: Savard, Caron Scoring Leaders Montreal Boston Goals Tomas Plekanec (8) Brad Marchand (11) Assists Raphael Diaz (12) Patrice Bergeron (11) Points Max Pacioretty (18) Bergeron/Krejci (15) +/- Brandon Prust (+10) Tyler Seguin (+13) PIMS Brandon Prust (76) Milan Lucic (50) Puck Drop: 7:30 PM EST TV: RDS, TSN Habs, NBCSN Radio: TSN 690 FM 98.5

Cue the banana! http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1010687

That was...different. Any time the starting goalie coughs up 7 and you can still manage a point out of it, I'd almost be inclined to call that a victory. I think Therrien and the coaches will have lots of defensive zone video for the players to review though.

Still 2-0, late in the 3rd now.

They were last game but it appears they're split up for this one. Some things to watch out for from Pittsburgh tonight: - Faceoffs - their rating of 52.9% sits them 2nd in the East - Powerplay - 25.9% (good for 4th in the league, also 2nd in the East) - With a goals scored per game average of 3.29, Pittsburgh sits...wait for it...2nd in the East - They're averaging over 30 shots per game (which isn't 2nd in the East but the Habs allow the fewest shots on goal of any Eastern team) Other notes: - Tomas Kaberle turns 35 today - Brandon Prust is playing career game #300

Mike Komisarek has asked for a trade after being a scratch numerous times this year. Will another team be willing to swap one overpaid soon-to-be-bought-out player for him? http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/trades/2013/03/02/leafs_komisarek_trade_report/

But I want both wins, then Boston's games in hand aren't as big of a factor. This game is far from a sure thing. Despite missing Malkin, they can still score and I wouldn't think there's much of an advantage to facing Vokoun over Fleury. In fact, I'd have preferred Fleury and his career 3.25 GAA and .889 SV% against the Habs which are his worst numbers against any Eastern Conference opponent. Price is getting the start although I was hoping Budaj would have, solely to have Price refreshed and ready for the Boston game.

With Boston winning this afternoon, the Habs need a win (not just a point) to retake the division and conference lead heading into tomorrow's head-to-head matchup.

He's in the studio for the afternoon game so he won't be at the Bell Centre. When he does do colour for Montreal home games, he is near the zamboni entrance.

The PBP team is Bob Cole and Kelly Hrudey (Healy is in the studio). Also, some surprising lineup changes for the Pens: Robert Bortuzzo (healthy) and Paul Martin (lower body) are both scratches, Mark Eaton and Simon Despres are in. Tomas Vokoun gets the start instead of Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Lake Erie Monsters (26-21-2-7) presently hold down the 8th and final playoff spot in the West and tonight, the Bulldogs (21-27-1-5) have a chance to cut into their points deficit as they try to make an improbable (and frankly unrealistic) attempt at a playoff spot. Hamilton trails Lake Erie by 13 points for that final playoff spot but have two games in hand. With Gabriel Dumont recalled, the leading point getter is Michael Blunden who has all of 20 points on the season. I think whoever starts (it should be Tokarski) will need to stand on his head for Hamilton to have a chance. Projected Hamilton Lines: Blunden - Tenute - Leblanc Bournival - Chaput - Holland Quailer - Fortier - Stortini Hagel - Leveille - Murovich Beaulieu - Pateryn St. Denis - Ellis Tinordi - Stejskal Tokarski Projected Lake Erie Lines: (based on +/- data from last game) van der Gulik - Sgarbossa - Thomas Carey - Malone - L. Walker Connolly - G. Walker - Agozzino McNeely - Reed - Gale Pock - Gaunce Beaupre - Lauridson Stollery - Maggio Aittokallio Puck drop is at 7:30 PM, Funny820 as always will have the play-by-play; click the banner below to listen.

Nothing shocking but Rene Bourque was placed on IR today which frees up the spot for Dumont. He already has sat the requisite time (it would have been done retroactively to the day after his last game) so he'll be eligible to be activated at any time.

Mark MacMillan has been quiet lately but had a good night yesterday with a pair of goals and an assist. That gives him 24 points on the season, surpassing last year's total in 9 fewer games. I found an article yesterday talking to him and his brother who both play for North Dakota, here it is if anyone's interested: http://www.habsworld.net/out.php?16615 Dietz was held pointless again but was +4 in a 4-1 win. He is now +8 on the year and +28 in his last 17 games.

I really wouldn't expect him to play and even if he played well, I still think Armstrong will stay in the lineup. For one, he hasn't played bad (he has been quiet but steady) and Therrien is a huge fan of him. Sure, he may spend the odd game in the press box but I don't expect Armstrong to lose his regular spot. Barring more injuries, this really appears to just be temporary callup until one of Bourque/Nokelainen are ready to return.

Projected lines for Pittsburgh: Kunitz - Crosby - Neal Bennett - Sutter - Dupuis Cooke - Jeffrey - Kennedy Glass - Vitale - Adams Orpik - Letang Eaton - Niskanen Despres - Engelland Projected lines for Montreal: Pacioretty - Desharnais- Gallagher Prust - Plekanec - Gionta Galchenyuk - Eller - Ryder Moen - White - Armstrong Markov - Emelin Gorges - Bouillon Kaberle - Subban

The big road trip is coming up and at the moment the Habs don't have any extra forwards (other than now Dumont). This looks like just a precautionary recall in case someone gets hurt, one that I quite frankly was expecting to see...although I thought Blunden would get the call instead. With plenty of cap space to spare, it's a no brainer.

Mayer was pulled with over 2 minutes left, Binghamton hit the post but didn't score. Sadly, neither did Hamilton, they lose 3-2. A slow start (2 GA in less than 9 minutes) kills them again. http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1010675

Part 1 of our Writers Weigh In column on the trade: http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=3020 (Part 2 will be up sometime this weekend, I'm not sure when yet...)

3-2 Binghamton in the 3rd, Tenute and Leblanc have the Hamilton goals. St. Denis and Fortier are both back, replacing Corbin and Murovich while Mayer is in net.

Today is the first day that prospects can sign 'future' contracts (ones that will begin in 2013-14) and the Habs have a few prospects who need to sign by June 1st. However, there are rumblings that the Habs have extended their policy of no in-season negotiations to prospects as well, they'll talk contract upon the completion of their respective seasons. As a result, I wouldn't expect to see any junior prospects signing for a while...or any Habs signing in-season extensions.