The Canadiens look to win their sixth straight game, something the franchise has not been able to do since March of 2010. Brendan Gallagher rejoined the team at Thursday's morning skate for the first time since being diagnosed with a concussion following a hit from Luke Schenn last Saturday. Even though Gallagher was able to begin practicing with the team, he is still not cleared for contact. The Canadiens have left it up to their medical staff to let them know when Gallagher will return to the lineup.
The players took to the ice 30 minutes early to work on the power play. The man advantage is an area of the Habs game that started the season off well but has died down as of late, their last power play goal coming on February 12 in Tampa Bay. Michel Therrien hopes the power play can get going tonight as they host the New York Islanders at the Bell Centre. The head coach wants his power play unit to get back to basics and to keep it as simple as possible.
Therrien had these three lines practicing on the power play.
Bourque - Plekanec - Gionta
Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Prust - Galchenyuk - Eller
The defence pairings of Markov - Diaz and Bouillon - Subban were not assigned to a specific line. The two pairings were taking a turn with each line.
Projected lines:
Bourque - Plekanec - Gionta
Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Prust - Galchenyuk - Eller
Moen - White - Armstrong
Markov - Emelin
Gorges - Diaz
Bouillon - Subban
