Oct 26 Habs Game 9 Preview - Canadiens vs Islanders

When pundits prognosticated on which teams would get off to the best starts this season, no one gave either the Montreal Canadiens nor the New York Islanders much of a chance. For the Habs, 2 key players had the biggest question marks tagged to them, Carey Price and Andrei Kostitsyn. When the Canadiens start their home and away series at the Bell Center Wednesday night against the Islanders, they will still be tied for 1st place in the Eastern Conference with 11 points, thanks to Carey Price's NHL leading 5 wins and AK46's team leading 5 goals.The Islanders were unable to beat the Canadiens in 4 attempts last season, going 3-0-1, and Montreal leads the overall series 74-46-15

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The Skinny on the Canadiens

With Andrei Markov rumoured to be returning as early as Saturday night against the Florida Panthers, one has to think that Alexandre Picard and to a lesser extent Ryan O'Byrne have to be wondering if they will get a chance to stay wtih the Canadiens. There is no question that Subban, Gorges, Gill (despite being -4), have their roles locked down. However, it can be argued that with the diminishing skills of Spacek and Hamrlik, perhaps Pierre Gauthier may be willing to make a move.

One of the reasons why I believe that the Canadiens could be willing to make a move this early is due to their abysmal power play. While the Canadiens did finally manage to score on the PP in their last game against Phoenix, that was only their 2nd PPG in 29 attempts, for a league worst 6.9%.

Also missing is a big forward who has enough offensive talent and speed to play with the pairing of Gomez and Gionta. Scott Gomez isn't barely even getting any shots on net, with only 2 in his last 3 games. Jacques Martin will apparently continue to tinker with that 2nd line, refusing to give anyone a prolonged trial period of any more than 40 minutes at best

The Canadiens do have Yannick Weber playing in the AHL, and he currently leads the Hamilton Bulldogs with 5 goals and 9 points in 6 games, 3 of those goals coming on the power play.

Dustin Boyd has played well for the 6 games he has participated in, but is just a victim of the Canadiens' good luck, as Jacques Martin does not want to mess with a winning line up. He is expected to sit out his 3rd straight game.

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