Carolina at Montreal - Pregame

by Bob Wage on Oct 28, 2008 12:02 PM EDT

The Hurricanes continue with game five of their six game road trip tonight and will take on the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.

The Canes are sporting a record of 4-2-1, (3-1-1 on the road), while the Habs are 5-1. The Habs are coming off their only loss of the season against the Ducks, while the Hurricanes come into town with a one game winning streak as they beat the Islanders 4-3 on Saturday night.

Carolina has scored 22 goals but has also allowed 22. Montreal has scored 27 while allowing just 17.

The Hurricanes always seems to do well in Montreal and have yet to lose a game there since the lockout. (9-0). Cam Ward especially loves it there and has a lifetime record of 7-0 at the Bell Centre with a save percentage of .952 and a GAA of 1.42.

He will need a typical performance tonight because the Canadiens are one of the top teams in the league and the Canes will be playing short-handed.

Of course Brandon Sutter is resting in Raleigh and is out indefinitely. Joni Pitkanen had minor knee surgey and will be out for a month. Those two players join Scott Walker, Frank Kaberle, and Justin Williams on the IR.

Chip at LSB is reporting that the lines probably will be as follows-

Staal-Ruutu-Whitney

Brind'Amour-Samsonov-LaRose

Cullen-Bayda-Eaves

Helminen-LaCouture-Brookbank

Gleason-Corvo

Seidenberg-Wallin

Babchuk-Melichar

Some Carolina quick hit facts-

Who is tied for the lead in the entire NHL with a plus 9 rating?..... Nic Wallin.

None other than Ryan Bayda is second on the team with a plus 6.

Dwight Helminen will be making his NHL debut, always an exciting event.

Cam Ward improved his save percentage from .891 to .914 with his 57 save performance on the Island.

Tonight is the 300th game with the Hurricanes for coach Peter Laviolette.

Patrick Eaves has just six shots on goal in seven games. Eric Staal (30 shots on the season) has had more than that in a game twice this season. Staal also has 15 missed shots to Eaves' four.

The Canes are allowing 35.7 shots a game, which is inflated by the 60-shots-against effort vs. the Islanders Saturday. Still, that ranks 28th in the league. Only Southeast rivals Atlanta (36.2) and Tampa Bay (37.3) are worse. Also, Florida is just ahead of Carolina at 34.9, making the bottom four teams in shots against all from the division. Washington, the Southeast's other team, is eighth at 27.5.

Game time is at 7:30 and there is no local television. Find a cozy spot with Center Ice and either synch your station to listen to Chuck, or bring your French dictionary, the broadcast will be in French tonight.

au revoir !

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Comments

I hate to say this but I will be pleasantly surprised if the Canes can escape MON with a win. I don’t think this will happen. The Canadiens PP is so good and our PK is so bad that if the Canes start getting penalized for stupid mistakes it will definitely cost them this game.

by Ivan on Oct 28, 2008 12:41 PM EDT reply actions

Bubba, Dave Stubbs of the Montréal Gazette has a nice piece on Leighton, “Home at last – with ’Canes”. (You can tell I’m not really in the mood to work this week!)

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=4b3f98d7-eaca-4d75-8010-3b0ae6cc3e3f

As for tonight, I’m nervous. I agree with Ivan, we can’t afford to take penalties because the Habs power play is awesome. And I actually speak French, but struggle catching everything when I watch RDS since I don’t speak le français québécois ;-)

by Sunny on Oct 28, 2008 1:25 PM EDT reply actions

Oh Sunny … I had that link coming at 2 … now you scooped me.

by Cory on Oct 28, 2008 1:40 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t think I’ve seen Helminen play, since he was recalled to play with us tonight, but I doubt he will be as awesome as Sutter was. But who knows? I like surprises.

by neaux on Oct 28, 2008 1:52 PM EDT reply actions

Does anyone know of a bar in North Raleigh that would have Center Ice?

by ccre on Oct 28, 2008 3:20 PM EDT reply actions

Blinco’s is a good spot and they are on Glenwood. Other people might have different suggestions as well.

There will be no Brookbank/Laraque rematch tonight. Begin, Laraque, and Brisebois will be in the pressbox.

http://habsinsideout.com/main/10072

by Bubba on Oct 28, 2008 3:28 PM EDT reply actions

CCRE — I’ll be at Buffalo Wild Wings right off of 540 in Knightdale, across from the Target plaza on 64. It’s new — a few weeks old. I’m sure they’ll have the game.

by Cory on Oct 28, 2008 3:38 PM EDT reply actions

I think you are lucky you don’t understand Quebecois french, Sunny, because the announcers on RDS are some of the worst you will ever hear in professional sports.

by repenttokyo on Oct 28, 2008 4:39 PM EDT reply actions