Jan 13 Canadiens Vs Stars - What You Need To Know

The Montreal Canadiens are taking on the Dallas Stars at the Bell Center on Thursday, January 14th. 2010 has not been a great year so far for the Canadiens, having only won 1 of the 4 games played so far. The Canadiens have lost all three games to teams above them in the standings, however they did arguably play their best game in an OT loss to New Jersey on Saturday night.

Montreal now finds themselves in 9th spot in the East, while Dallas have sunk to 11th in the West.

The Stars have not been very successful in 2010 either! They have already played 6 games, and are now playing their 3rd game in 5 nights. The Stars have also lost 5 of those games, including their last 2. They have also been shut out twice.

Sergei Kostitsyn is still out with an injury, although he is back skating with the team. Also back with the team is Ryan O'Byrne, who will be watching the game from the sidelines.

Coach Jacques Martin is still auditioning for the role of replacement for Andrei Kostitsyn, at least until brother Sergei gets back. D'Agostini will again get the start on the number 2 line with Plekanec and Cammalleri. However, it's hard to impress when your linemates have also been pointless in their last 4 games. Fatigue should not be a factor though, since the Canadiens have just come back from having 4 days off. The last time the Canadiens had 4 straight? Oct 11 - 14th.

Despite note getting any points in their last 4 games, Cammalleri still leads the team in goals with 20, and Plekanec leads the team in points with 46. No one is even close to either of these two players. And it's not for lack of effort either for Cammalleri, who is averaging just over 5 shots per game in those 4.

Dallas "Star" Mike Modano has also felt the chill lately. He has not gotten any points in 6 games, and has scored only once in 14 games. The 39 year old has 549 goals in his Hall of Fame worthy NHL career.

Former Canadiens Mike Ribeiro will not be in the line up, after a scary on ice incident with another former Canadiens, Christopher Higgins.

Montreal is still first in the league on the power play, while the Stars have not scored on the power play in their last 22 attempts.

Tags: Cammalleri \ Dallas Stars \ habs \ hockey \ Jacques Martin \ Kostitsyn \ Mike Modano \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL \ Plekanec \ Ribeiro