Buffalo at Canadiens
Bell Centre – October 19, 2011 – 7:35pm
Season Record – Buffalo (3-1-0) 6 pts. 5th in Eastern Conference; second in NE Division.
Canadiens (1-2-1) 3 pts. 12th Eastern Conference 4th in NE Division.
Last Time Out – Buffalo ended a six game losing streak against the Penguins dating back to Dec.29, 2009, with a 3-2 win in Pittsburgh Saturday night. First game of four game road trip. Canadiens edged
by Colorado 6-5 in shootout.
Last Season – The teams split the six game season series. The Canadiens won the first three games. Carey Price posted a 1.33GAA and the Canadiens supported him with eight goals. Buffalo came back to win the final three games as the Canadiens offense dried up. While Price had a 1.62GAA his teammates managed only three goals. In the final meeting of the season, March 22nd, the Sabres shutout the Canadiens 2-0 at the Bell Centre. Ryan Miller stopped 31 shots for the shutout. Nathan Gerbe scored both goals, the second into an empty net.
Goaltending – Buffalo – Ryan Miller 3GP (2-1-0) 2.35GAA .928save%. Was 2-2-0 with a 1.50 GAA and a shutout against the Canadiens last season. Canadiens – Carey Price will make his fifth straight start. 4GP (1-2-1) 2.96GAA .880save%. Against Buffalo in nine starts since the start of the 2009-10 season Price is 4-2-3 with a 1.41 GAA.
Who’s Hot – Buffalo – Thomas Vanek has a point in all four games (3 goals 4 assists). Luke Adam 3 goals, 4 assists. Nathan Gerbe has two multi point games. 1goal 3assists in four games. Leads team at plus-4. Canadiens – Brian Gionta 2 goals 1 assist vs. Colorado. Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec with 2 goals 2 assists each.
Special Teams – Power Play – Buffalo ranked 12th in NHL – (3/15) 20.0%. Canadiens 19th ranked (2/16) 12.4%. Penalty Killing – Buffalo ranked 13th (2/15) 86.7%. Canadens ranked 22nd
(4/19) 79.0%.
Injuries – Buffalo– C-Jochen Hecht (concussion) Montreal – LW Michael Cammalleri (lacerated left leg); D Chris Campoli (IR-hamstring); D-Andrei Markov (IE-knee inflammation); D-Brendon Nash (IR-shoulder surgery); D-Jaroslav Spacek (rib injury); RW Ryan White (IR-sports hernia surgery)
Notes –
…..Carey Price will make his third attempt to record his 100th career regular season
victory. Win number 99 came in Winnipeg October 9th followed by losses to Calgary and Colorado.
….. The Canadiens are trying to avoid their worst start in a dozen years. Last time they lost four of the first five was 1999-2000 when the only win in their first five was in Calgary. Their losses were to Toronto at home and in Edmonton, Vancouver and Florida. The Canadiens won only three of that season’s first sixteen games (3-12-1) under head coach Alain Vigneault and eventually missed the playoffs.
…..The Sabres will complete their four game road trip with games in Florida vs. the Panthers on Thursday and Tampa on Saturday.
…..The Sabres opened their regular season in Europe beating Anaheim 4-1 in Helsinki and Los Angeles 4-2 in Berlin.
Tonight’s lines
81-Lars Eller – 14-Tomas Plekanec – 72-Erik Cole
87-Max acioretty 51-David Desharnais 46-Andrei Kostitsyn
32-Travis Moen 11-Scott Gomez 21-Brian Gionta
52-Mathieu Darche 63-Andreas Engqvist 60-Aaron Palushaj
Defence
76-P.K. Subban 26-Josh Gorges
51-Raphael Diaz 75 Hal Gill
68-Yannick Weber 74-Alexei Emelin
Goal 31-Carey Price (30-Peter Budaj)
The Buffalo Forward Lines
26-Tomas Vanek 72-Luke Adam 29-Jason Pominville
42-Nathan Gerbe 9-Derek Roy 21-Drew Stafford
63-Tyler Ennis 23-Ville Leino 22-Brad Boyes
8-Cody McCormick 28-Paul Gaustad 36-Patrick Kaleta
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