Cristobal Huet will be in goal for the Canadiens Thursday night when Montreal travels to Carolina to play the defending Stanley Cup-champion Hurricanes.
“It’s been our plan since the beginning of the season,” Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau said Wednesday after an hour-long Bell Centre practice, before the team’s 4 p.m. flight to Raleigh. “We don’t want to let one goalie sit on the bench for a week or a week and a half.”
David Aebischer has been brilliant the past two home-ice games for Montreal, in a shooting gallery against Toronto last Saturday in what eventually was a shootout loss, and backstopping the Canadiens’ victory over Ottawa on Tuesday.
Aebischer has a glittering .924 save percentage through six games; Huet is .899 in five games.
This will be the first meeting between the two clubs since the Hurricanes eliminated the Canadiens from the Eastern Conference quarterfinals last season, on their way to the Stanley Cup.
A subplot surely will be the first time Canadiens captain Saku Koivu skates onto the ice against Carolina’s Justin Williams, whose accidental second-period high stick in Game 3 of that series seriously injured Koivu’s left eye and ended his season.
Koivu had surgery on May 6 to repair a detached retina. He has since developed a cataract in the eye and will have postseason surgery to remedy that.
Defence Mike Komisarek, who suffered a shoulder injury in Tuesday's game against the Senators, didn't practice with the team yesterday, opting for therapy instead. He did make the trip to Carolina with his teammates and expects to play Thursday night.
I heard Downey state that he was going to beat the crap out of Williams. He wasn't able to play enforcer in the playoffs and now is his chance at showing his support and respect for Saks.
Oh sorry. Just thought many here wanted Justin to pay for what he did???Wouldn't that be neat to see. I'd actually put my dollar on Downey to win this one
Oh sorry. Just thought many here wanted Justin to pay for what he did???Wouldn't that be neat to see. I'd actually put my dollar on Downey to win this one
That's because Bushwacker Williams is a punk who deserves to get the pulp beaten out of him. I wouldn't be upset if someone speared him in the face or roughed him up.... not even a little bit