GDT: March 20th, 7:00 pm. Montreal vs New Jersey

[Catala]

Game Day Thread: Montreal's Edition

Montreal Canadiens (39-26-7-3) VS. New Jersey Devils (38-22-12-2)

From the Bell center, Montreal, Quebec.

Game Time: 7:00 PM, Saturday , March 20th.
TV: Reseaux des Sports.
Radio: Ckac AM 730 (french Broadcast) and Team990 or CJAD 800 (english Broadcasts).

Previous Meetings this year: (1-1-1-0)
Last Game: Mar 19th, 2004 - Habs 1, Devils 1

Preview:

Gentlemen, start your engines !The second game of the back to back Devils/habs serie Faceoffs tonight. Garon stole the show in East Rutherford and Theodore will have the task to do exactly the same. Brodeur will want to get his 400th win in his hometown and the habs will have much to do stop him from doing so. I'll just give you some advice for tonight's game... Buy some beer, order pizza, and follow the game with the corner of the eye while concentrating on the beer... The game might be quite long, The goalies quite good, and the score quite low...
the habs still are sitting 2 points back of the devils, both battling for the 6th spot on the eastern's conference ranking.

News, notes and Quotes:

- The habs are on an impressive streak of 10 wins in 13 games (including 1 OTL and a tie.).
- Beginning a four-game road trip, the Devils are looking to extend their unbeaten streak to four games.
- Yesterday's 3 stars: Mathieu Garon, Jay Pandolfo, Martin Brodeur
- Do you guys know why Brodeur wasn't in the net against the pens? well simply because New Jersey wanted him to get his 400th win against his hometown club... he failed to do that yesterday and i hope he fails tonight as well.
- For the devils, Niedermayer and Martin played for a combined 60 mn.
- all the habs' defensemen played for more than 20 mn each except Dykhuis who played for 12mn.
- Komisarek played a great game. He is becoming a very solid defenseman but yet with some little mistakes that i believe will soon fade.
- Garon was simply magic yesterday as he robbed some goals.
- the posts did their share of goaltending especially during the end of the game.
- Brisebois is expected to miss tonight's game as well because of lingering groin issues
- Our dear Sheldon was back in the line up after missing 17 games, he played for 25 mn.
- Theodore will be back in front of the nets.
- Brodeur said of Garon: ``He played well the whole game and made some incredible saves. He got a little lucky at the end with a post. That's the way it goes. You don't expect to clinch every time on the first try.''
- and his counterpart said of Brodeur:``Playing against Marty Brodeur, you're not allowed to make any mistakes because he's not going to give up many goals''




Hab's Injuries:

- P. Brisebois D
-March 16th, 2004. - Groin - Day to day

- healthy scratches: Langdon, Juneau

<table width="420" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="5" align="center" bgcolor="#FF0000" class="verw10">Teams Stats</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> -Avg. Goals For</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"> </td><td class="verb10">Habs 2.60 (13th)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td class="verb10">Devils 2.53 (17th)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> -GA Avg</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">Habs 2.26 (10th)</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10">Devils 2.02 (1rst)</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="10"><spacer type="block" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> -Face of Wins %</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">Habs 51.8 (6th)</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>Devils 48.5 (24th)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> -Save Perc.</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">Habs 92.2 (5th)</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>Devils 92.1 (6th)</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="10"><spacer type="block" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> -PP Perc</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"> </td><td class="verb10">Habs 18.3 (7th)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td class="verb10">Devils 15.1(20th)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> -PK Pct.</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">Habs 81.8 (25th)</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10">Devils 84.5 (9th)</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody> </table>


Bonus Stats: Last 13 games record:
team: Wins-Losses-tie-OTL
Habs 7-1-1-1,
Devils 5-3-1-1

<table width="420" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="5" align="center" bgcolor="#FF0000" class="verw10">Scoring Leaders</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Leading Scorer</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td></td><td class="verb10"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Mike Ribeiro</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">20 goals-41 a= 61 points</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="10"><spacer type="block" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> 2nd Best</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Michael Ryder</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">22 goals-35 a= 57 points</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="10"><spacer type="block" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> 3rd Scorer</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td></td><td class="verb10"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Saku Koivu</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">14 goals-40 a= 54 points</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10"> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody> </table>

<table width="420" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="5" align="center" bgcolor="#FF0000" class="verw10">Individual Leaders</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Best Scorer</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td></td><td class="verb10"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Mike Ribeiro</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">61 Points</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="10"><spacer type="block" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Goals</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Richard Zednik</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">25 goals</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="10"><spacer type="block" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Assists</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td></td><td class="verb10"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Mike Ribeiro</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">41 Assists</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10"> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody> </table>

<table width="420" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="5" align="center" bgcolor="#FF0000" class="verw10">Special: Man of the hour ( the Part time player )</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> #94, LW</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td></td><td class="verb10"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Yannick Perreault</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="10"><spacer type="block" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Goals</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">16</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10"></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Assists</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">15</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table></td><td width="10"><spacer type="block" width="10"></td><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Points</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"> </td><td class="verb10">30 </td></tr><tr><td></td><td class="verb10"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" height="14" class="verb10"> Extras</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"></td><td class="verb10">-3, 109 sog</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td class="verb10">Last 8: 6g-5a +5</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody> </table>

Starting Goalies and probable lines:

Martin Brodeur VS Jose Theodore

_

Montreal

Lines

Zednik - Koivu - Perreault
Ryder - Ribeiro - Kovalev
Sundstrom - Dowd - Bulis
Ward - Begin - Dackell


Healthy scratches: Juneau, Dagenais, langdon

*Special*
None this time


Habs' standing(Record of 39-26-7-3)

Northeast Standings

           	GP  	W  	L  	T  	OTL  	Pts  	GF  	GA  	
x-Boston  	74  	36  	17  	14  	7  	93  	188  	167   
 Toronto 	75 	40 	23 	9 	3 	92 	218 	191 		
 Ottawa 	74 	39 	21 	9 	5 	92 	239 	165 	
 Montreal 	75 	39 	26 	7 	3 	88 	195 	171 		
 Buffalo 	74 	32 	32 	6 	4 	74 	196 	205

    Eastern Conference Standings    
 Team  	GP  	Pts
 1. 	y-Tampa Bay 	74 	97  
 2. 	x-Philadelphia 	74 	94  
 3. 	x-Boston 	74 	93  
 4. 	Toronto 	75 	92  
 5. 	Ottawa 	        74 	92  
 6. 	New Jersey 	74 	89  
 7. 	Montreal 	75 	87  
 8. 	NY Islanders 	74 	80  
 9. 	Buffalo 	74 	74  
 10. 	Florida 	74 	71  
 11. 	Atlanta 	75 	71  
 12. 	Carolina 	74 	69  
 13. 	NY Rangers 	74 	64  
 14. 	Washington 	74 	54  
 15. 	Pittsburgh 	75 	49

My Worries: Brodeur and Elias.

,

"Je me souviens" (Last game against New Jersey.)

       Montreal  
 
 Goalies       Shots   Saves  
 M. Garon         30   29  
 
 Skaters             TOI    G A  +/-  SOG PIM  
 S. Begin           16:18   0 0   0    2   0  
 F. Bouillon        21:15   0 1   0    1   0  
 J. Bulis           14:36   0 0   0    2   0  
 P. Dagenais        12:41   0 0   0    1   0  
 J. Dowd            13:57   0 0   0    2   0  
 K. Dykhuis         12:10   0 0   0    1   0  
 S. Koivu           19:47   0 0   0    0   0  
 M. Komisarek       21:26   0 0   0    1   0  
 A. Kovalev         16:22   0 0   0    4   0  
 A. Markov          23:50   0 0   0    2   0  
 Y. Perreault       16:56   1 0   0    2   0  
 M. Ribeiro         16:08   0 0   0    1   2  
 C. Rivet           23:52   0 0   0    1   2  
 M. Ryder           14:52   0 0   0    2   0  
 S. Souray          24:58   0 0   0    3   0  
 N. Sundstrom       15:25   0 0   0    1   0  
 J. Ward            12:53   0 0   0    0   0  
 R. Zednik          18:19   0 1   0    5   0  
 
-------------------------------------------------     
      New Jersey 
 
 Goalies       Shots   Saves  
 M. Brodeur       31   30  
  
 Skaters             TOI    G A  +/-  SOG PIM  
 T. Albelin         13:00   0 0   0    1   0  
 S. Brylin          14:29   0 0   0    1   0  
 P. Elias           19:40   0 0   0    2   0  
 J. Friesen         13:24   0 0   0    0   0  
 R. Giroux          21:48   0 0  -1    2   0  
 S. Gomez           17:00   0 0   0    2   0  
 D. Hale            12:47   0 0   0    0   2  
 J. Hrdina          13:42   0 0   0    3   0  
 V. Kozlov          13:35   0 0   0    1   0  
 J. Langenbrunner   16:22   0 1   0    2   0  
 J. Madden          19:34   0 1   0    5   0  
 G. Marshall        14:19   0 0   0    0   0  
 P. Martin          29:11   0 0  +1    4   0  
 S. Niedermayer     31:45   0 0  +1    2   0  
 J. Pandolfo        17:15   1 0   0    1   0  
 E. Rasmussen       13:11   0 0   0    1   0  
 T. Stevenson       13:08   0 0   0    1   0  
 C. White           21:25   0 0  -1    2   2

Recap and quotes from last game From Yahoo.ca

Scott Niedermayer had two chances in the closing seconds of overtime to give Martin Brodeur his 400th win and the New Jersey Devils an eighth straight playoff berth.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Mathieu Garon denied Niedermayer's first opportunity and a goal post took away the second on Friday night as the Devils and Canadiens skated to a 1-1 tie

The Canadiens were a step faster than the Devils in the first period, and they left the ice with a 1-0 lead after outshooting New Jersey 15-8.

Perreault got his fourth goal in four games, stuffing a rebound past Brodeur at 4:35.

Richard Zednik made the play, collecting a loose puck in center ice and skating around defenseman Colin White to set up a quick shot from above the right circle that Brodeur could only block.

New Jersey thought it tied the game with 8:23 left in the period, but the goal was nullified after a videotape review showed that Elias had his stick too high when he deflected Ray Giroux's shot.

Pandolfo tied the game 1:19 into the second period, chipping a centering pass by John Madden over Garon for his 13th goal, tying his career high.

The goal culminated a great shift during which Paul Martin and Pandolfo alsohad good scoring chances.

<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0"><meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"><title>New Page 1</title></head><body><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" width="100%" id="AutoNumber2"><tr><td width="33%" align="center" bgcolor="#FF0000"><p align="center"><b><font size="4">Date</font></b></td><td width="33%" align="center" bgcolor="#0000FF"><b><font size="4">Opponent</font></b></td><td width="34%" align="center" bgcolor="#FF0000"><b><font size="4">Time</font></b></td></tr></table><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" width="100%" id="AutoNumber1"><tr><td width="33%" align="center">Sat, Mar 20</td><td width="33%" align="center"><font color="#FF0000"> <b>New Jersey</b></font></td><td width="34%" align="center">7:00 pm </td></tr><tr><td width="33%" align="center">Wed, Mar 24</td><td width="33%" align="center"> at <b>Buffalo</b></td><td width="34%" align="center">7:30 pm </td></tr><tr><td width="33%" align="center">Thu, Mar 25</td><td width="33%"align="center"><a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/ott" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: 700"><font color="#FF0000"> <b>Ottawa</b></font></a></td><td width="34%" align="center">7:30 pm </td></tr><tr><td width="33%" align="center">Sat, Mar 27</td><td width="33%" align="center"><font color="#000000">at<span style="font-weight: 700"> </span> </font><span style="font-weight: 700"></a></span><b><font color="#FFCC00">Boston</font></b></td><td width="34%" align="center">7:00 pm</td></tr></table></body></html>

Sources: Yahoo.ca, www.canadiens.com, www.NHL.com, www.espn.com

PS: j.lroberts is away for the week. So here i am . GO HABS GO

[English Hab]

Great work as per usual... though can i ask you a question...???? when do you sleep???? hahahaha

as for tonites game... its a W for the Habs... we've tried them, we've tested them, they now shall be found wanting!!!!!!

2-1

[Bud The Spud*]

2-1 Habs

[Catala]

Originally Posted by English Hab

Great work as per usual... though can i ask you a question...???? when do you sleep???? hahahaha

I was asking myself the exact same question...

[English Hab]

Originally Posted by Catala

I was asking myself the exact same question...

joys of being a student i suppose!!!

[s7ark]

Originally Posted by English Hab

Great work as per usual... though can i ask you a question...???? when do you sleep???? hahahaha

as for tonites game... its a W for the Habs... we've tried them, we've tested them, they now shall be found wanting!!!!!!

2-1

I gotta agree... great GDTs always! I will go so far as to say 4-2 Montreal (with an empty netter). Looks like we have the "real" lineup in, which should mean some goals. The last one was a goodie, and this should be better! I'd love to be in Montreal right now (I WAS there 3 weeks ago, and boy is that a fun city...) so I could go to the game.

[lUkAz]

now, at bell center, habs will win :> will be hard to beat brodeur... so 1-0 or 2-1....eventually with empty net 3-1 =)

[Aarex]

Bump...

has it been confirmed that's what the lines are going to be tonight?

[RE-HABS]

Originally Posted by Rydified

Bump...

has it been confirmed that's what the lines are going to be tonight?

Haven't seen anything, but I'm hoping Ryder is back with Ribs and Kovy!

[Howie Morenz]

I hope the Dagenais experience is over and Brodeur has to go elsewhere to get his 400th win. C'mon CJ put Ryder back where he belongs. Habs win 2-0.

[Dynasty]

Originally Posted by Howie Morenz

I hope the Dagenais experience is over and Brodeur has to go elsewhere to get his 400th win. C'mon CJ put Ryder back where he belongs. Habs win 2-0.

I agree!...The experiment is over; we only have two really good scoring lines and Ryder is needed badly on the second line to make it work.

[loadie]

Excellent work. I think it'll actually be a little higher scoring tonight, I see 4-1 Habs, with no empty netter, but my crystal ball is a little foggy.

[Joseph]

GO Habs, I think we will see an excellent game tonight. I can't wait. i would also like to see Ryder back with Kovy and Ribs. Anyone else really excited for tonights game?

[zurg999]

Leave the lines the way they were yesterday for at least one more game because tonight Bulis gets his legs and CJ gets the matchups.

[oli500]

Hopefully Bordeur will have to waite to get his 400th win vs another team. Its going to be a good game considering its a 4 point game. Hopefuly colorado beats the leafs and we could also catch them.

[Mooch]

The only thing i care about is the fact that Daganais isnt playing.

3-1 habs.

Zed, Kovalev(i hope), Souray(oh yeah)

[Habsaku]

Originally Posted by Mooch

The only thing i care about is the fact that Daganais isnt playing.

(oh the wonders of the smilie)

Agreed, this puts Ryder back where he belongs, I'd also like to see Kovalev with Koivu at least once.

[Naoned]

3-1 habs

Ryder, Zednik and Markov

[Sonik]

Brodeur hurt by a shot on the ankle during warm-up. More details to come...

[Raider917]

Originally Posted by Sonik

Brodeur hurt by a shot on the ankle during warm-up. More details to come...

Did RDS just say that Komisarek play 21 minutes last night? i knew he played more but over 20? he was just averaging 8 mins a game wasnt he?

[Sonik]

Originally Posted by Raider917

Did RDS just say that Komisarek play 21 minutes last night? i knew he played more but over 20? he was just averaging 8 mins a game wasnt he?

21:26 exactly. Good job by Komi!

[Histrion]

Gotta love Begin who is blocking the point shots on the PK and losing his stick each time.

[chicpea*]

I don't know what game NJ is playing but it certainly isn't hockey. God I hate them. The fact that they are permitted to win disgusts me. I would rather watch the Habs lose 3-1 in a good game than this horsepoop from NJ. Why I ask, Why!!!?

[Sonik]

ZZZZZzzzzzz....

[Gazou]

Poor fans who have to see the Devils play in the first round.....yawn...