AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March > 08
Thursday, March 8, 2007
One last look at the Habs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Who knew Pascal Dupuis and Eric Belanger were so popular? With the Montreal media in town, a group that Habs legends say hurt the team, the French Canadian corner of the Thrashers dressing room was a crowded place. I needed Dupuis for two seconds — to see if he was switching lines (he isn’t), but had to wait for the big crowd around Dupuis to disperse. Evidently when you speak French, you’re a popular guy.
During the morning skate, Dupuis skated with every line, including a brief look with Tkachuk and Kovalchuk. That would be an interesting trio, but you’d lose the scoring punch that Dupuis is giving that third line, so Sim is safe for now. Really there’s no reasons to make any major moves, the team is 4-0 since the Tkachuk deal.
Minor lineup change for tonight — J.P. Vigier is back in for Boulton. Marian Hossa and Slava Kozlov didn’t skate this morning, but they have the option to skip. Hartley said the Vigier/Boulton switch was the only one for tonight. He also said he’s happy with the play of his defensive pairings, so some of you calling for a move there will have to wait.
Montreal is a team kind of reeling. There’s the whole Alex Kovalev story, about him ripping teammates to the Russian media (see: Habs stand behind Kovalev despite alleged comments) and the team has lost four of five. They are also in the midst of a five-game road trip, so they might be a little gassed. Then again they haven’t played since Saturday, so that might not be an issue. Overall this season, Montreal is 14-17-3 on the road. The Canadiens are 3-0 this season against the Thrashers.
Random stat of the day: The Thrashers power play is 0-14 against Montreal this season.
Second random stat of the day: Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov have a combined 0 goals, and 2 assists against Montreal this season.
Goalie matchup: - Kari Lehtonen (29-19-8, 2.83 GAA) vs. Jaroslav Halak (3-3-0, 3.15)
