Montreal Sports - Montreal Canadiens

1. The Canadiens are looking to snap a 2 game losing streak on Thursday night against the Florida Panthers at the Bell Center in Montreal. These two teams are meeting for the 2nd time this season, with Montreal having already beaten the Panthers in Florida 5-4 on New Year's Eve.
2. The Habs really needed Andrei Kostitsyn against Washington last night, but neither he, nor his brother Sergei, will likely be available.
3. Tomas Plekanec has not scored in his last 2 games, and is a -1. He has looked very tired in his last two games, but perhaps he will be more motivated with GM Bob Gainey's recent comments that the team would in fact like to sign him soon to a long term deal.
4. For those keeping count, and there are plenty that are, Benoit Pouliot has scored 3 goals in 7 games for the Montreal Canadiens, including the game winner against Florida. Latendresse has played 18 games for Minnesota, and has scored 7 goals with 1 assist. It's still early, but you can easily say that this trade is working out well for both teams.
5. Still no word on who the starting goaltender will be between Price or Halak, but if history is any indication, Coach Martin will go with Halak who has already beaten Martin's former team in the Panthers, and who Martin tends to play against the weaker teams. As a former GM, he knows that Halak's trade value is increased significantly through continued strong play against the bottom half of the league.

Tags: Andrei Kostitsyn \ Benoit Pouliot \ bob gainey \ Carey price \ Florida Panthers \ Guillaume Latendresse \ habs \ hockey \ Jaroslav Halak \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL \ Tomas Plekanec