Nouvelles

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RALEIGH - Here's a numerical look at Saturday night's game between the Canadiens and the Hurricanes in Raleigh. 100 – Number of games Tom Gilbert has played in a Canadiens uniform, following Saturday’s contest. Since being acquired as a free agent over the summer of 2014, Gilbert has registered four goals and nine assists as a Hab. 1 – Number of career NHL games it took Daniel Carr to score his first NHL goal, on his first shot, on his first shift, just 2:44 into the first period on Saturday night. Carr achieved the feat almost a year to the day after Sven Andrighetto did the same on December 6, 2014. 7 - Number of Canadiens players, including Carr, who have scored in their first NHL game since the 1999-2000 season. The others were Jason Ward (December 3, 1999), Marcel Hossa (January 10, 2002), Alexander Perezhogin (October 6, 2005), Jonathan Ferland (January 3, 2006), Max Pacioretty (January 2, 2009) and Andrighetto (December 6, 2014). 5 – Number of career points (1G-4A) Paul Byron had registered

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CANADIENS (19-5-3) @ HURRICANES (8-13-4) TV: TVA Sports, Sportsnet Metropolitan rivals week wraps up for the Canadiens in Raleigh on Saturday. Coming off a 3-2 loss against Washington on Thursday in which the Habs outshot the Caps 35-19, Michel Therrien’s men will be looking to bounce back against the struggling Hurricanes at PNC Arena. The Canes are ranked 30th in the NHL this season, having won just three games in the month of November, and eight total through 25 games to date. Bill Peters’ troops dropped their first contest of the month of December by a score of 5-1 against the New Jersey Devils on December 3. Carolina’s second-round pick from the NHL Draft, forward Phil Di Giuseppe, will make his NHL debut against the Habs, while Cam Ward, who is 7-8-3 with a 2.53 goals against average and 0.989 save percentage this season, will get the start in goal. The visitors enjoyed a morning off on Saturday, and Therrien has not yet announced whether any changes will be made to his lineup in Ra

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BROSSARD – Lars Eller might have been skeptical about transitioning to the wing, but things appear to be working out just fine. With 27 games of experience in his brand new role under his belt, the 26-year-old Dane admits that the process of moving from his full-time post at center to flanking Alex Galchenyuk on the left side has gone far better than expected. Any and all skepticism has instead been replaced by optimism, as Eller continues to learn and steadily master the intricacies of a position that seemed somewhat foreign to him prior to the start of the 2015-16 campaign. “I’m feeling very good right now. I didn’t think I was going to feel that comfortable on the wing. I didn’t feel that comfortable when I was playing there in the past. It was no secret that I liked being at center better, but now I’m really more comfortable at wing,” offered Eller, who has one goal and four points in his last five games, and seven goals and 11 points on the year. “As of right now, I really like playing that positio

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MONTREAL – It’s tough to contain a player you can’t catch. Paul Byron is proving to be that elusive performer teams are struggling to slow down. On Thursday night, the 26-year-old Ottawa native was up to his old tricks again, using his trademark speed to give Washington Capitals defenders fits in a 3-2 loss at the Bell Centre, while showcasing playmaking skills few people likely believed he possessed when the Canadiens claimed him off waivers from the Calgary Flames on October 6. Fifteen games into Byron's career with Montreal, people have taken notice of the intangibles he brings to the table. And, his accolades are even more impressive when you consider that he watched the first 10 outings of the year from the press box before finally getting a chance to sport the CH for real. “I keep saying it, but I think that’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” offered Byron, who picked up the primary assist on Brian Flynn’s short-handed tally on Thursday night that tied the score at two, sending Flynn i

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MONTREAL - Here's a numerical look at Thursday night's game between the Canadiens and the Capitals at the Bell Centre. 2,518 – Number of days that have elapsed since the Canadiens last managed to register a win over the Capitals at the Bell Centre in regulation time. That happened back on January 10, 2009, as the Canadiens posted a 5-4 victory. 283 – Number of games Tomas Fleischmann played with the Washington Capitals between the 2005-06 and 2010-11 campaigns, before moving on to play for the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, and now the Canadiens. The Czech forward amassed 60 goals and 138 points during his time in the District of Columbia. 8 – Number of points Alex Galchenyuk has managed to put up over his last seven games, adding to that tally by picking up an assist on Thursday night. He had five goals and two helpers in the Canadiens' seven previous outings before going up against the Capitals at the Bell Centre. 20 – Shooting percentage Lars Eller has compiled in his last

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CAPITALS (17-5-1) @ CANADIENS (19-4-3) TV: RDS, CITYM The NHL leading Habs take on the Capitals, as two of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference meet Thursday night at the Bell Centre. The Capitals present a tough challenge for Michel Therrien’s troops, as Barry Trotz’s club has won nine of their last eleven clashes between the two teams at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Furthermore, both defeats suffered by the Capitals occurred in overtime. The Capitals, winners of their last five consecutive games, won their most recent game Saturday night in Toronto by the score of 4 to 2. The offensively loaded Capitals have scored a total of 21 goals during that stretch. Evgeny Kuznetsov (8G-18A) continues to lead Washington in points, ahead of Alexander Ovechkin (12G-10A) by four points on the Capitals scoring list. Niklas Backstrom (8G-12A) sits in third place with 20 points in 20 games to maintain his point-per-game average. Braden Holtby, who was recently named the NHL’s second star for the mo

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BROSSARD – In Wednesday’s notebook, Nathan Beaulieu talks fighting, the Canadiens ready themselves for the Capitals, and words of praise for Michel Therrien. Tough as nails: Nathan Beaulieu wasn’t about to let a punch to the face slow him down at practice on Wednesday. Less than 24 hours after coming out on the losing end of a toe-to-toe battle with Columbus Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno, the 22-year-old rearguard took part in every facet of the on-ice session and showed absolutely no signs of suffering any serious injury during the bout. Nathan Beaulieu was back at practice on Wednesday after dropping the gloves with Columbus' Nick Foligno. “I got a little banged up, but luckily I’m fine. I’m good to go,” shared Beaulieu, who elected to drop the gloves with Foligno at the 10:56 mark of the second period after seeing him throw a potentially dangerous knee-to-knee hit on Tomas Fleischmann. “I didn’t lose consciousness or anything. It’s a hockey fight. I’ve been hit in the face multiple times in my l

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MONTREAL – The Canadiens’ special teams have helped propel the team to the top of the standings. When a team is ranked second in the league on the penalty kill and fourth on the power play, points tend to pile up pretty quickly. That’s been the case for Montreal this season, as the Canadiens have not only enjoyed the intangible momentum boost that comes with executing at an elite clip with the man advantage; they’ve also gotten five of their 19 game-winning goals in special teams situations. Clicking at a 23.9 percent efficiency with the man advantage and snuffing out 76 of the 88 opposing power play opportunities they’ve faced, the tides have definitely turned for a team that finished the 2014-15 campaign ranked 23rd in the NHL with a 16.5 percent power play efficiency. “I think last year we kind of got stale in our structure on one side and this year, we just have a ton of options,” explained Dale Weise, who set up Max Pacioretty for the game winner on the power play late in the third period agai

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MONTREAL - Here's a numerical look at Tuesday night's game between the Canadiens and the Blue Jackets at the Bell Centre. 700 – Number of games coached by Michel Therrien in his NHL career to date, counting a 356-250-23-71 record over a seven-year span behind the bench, now ranking 45th on the league’s all-time coaching leaderboard for games worked. 15 – Number of games played by Mike Condon so far this year, the first time any Habs goaltender has played more games than Carey Price in a season since 2009-10. 1 – Number of times Zachary Fucale has seen his name on an official regular season NHL roster, getting his first opportunity to back up Condon on Tuesday after being called up from St. John’s on Monday night. 16 – Number of times the Canadiens have opened the scoring in a game in 2015-16, having now gotten on the board first in 61.5 percent of the team's games this season after Paul Byron’s first-period marker against Columbus. 2:51 – Amount of time needed by Byron to get the Habs on t

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The Montreal Canadiens have a new farm team this season, the St. John's IceCaps. To help Canadiens fans track the team's performance in the AHL, we have invited Charles Dart, website contributor of the IceCaps' official website to prepare a bi-weekly summary of the action in Newfoundland. ST. JOHN’S - The St. John’s IceCaps are entering the final month of 2015 on a high note with an eight-game point streak (5-0-2-1) during which they have been rolling an 11F, 7D setup. The IceCaps wrapped up a four-game home stand on November 21st with a win and an overtime loss to the visiting Syracuse Crunch. After taking to the road for another six-game road stand last week, the IceCaps played three games in less than 70 hours this past weekend. The spotlight was upon Bud Holloway this week as he was recalled to the NHL for the first time in his career. The 27-year-old played his first NHL game on Friday night, was sent down to St. John’s on Saturday night, and recorded three points in his return to the lineup f