Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Montreal Canadiens

Game Time: 7:30pm/ET
From: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Penguins Record: 24-22-5 (10th in Eastern Conference)
Maple Leafs Record: 28-16-6 (4th in Eastern Conference)
Last Meeting:
December 27th, 2008 @ Pittsburgh (3-2 Canadiens)

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS LINE COMBINATIONS:
Matt Cooke - Sidney Crosby - Evgeni Malkin
Miroslav Satan - Jordan Staal - Petr Sykora
Pascal Dupuis - Bill Thomas - Chris Minard
Luca Caputi - Maxime Talbot - Eric Godard

Brooks Opik - Ryan Whitney
Mark Eaton - Kris Letang
Rob Scuderi - Hal Gill

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS PROBABLE GOALTENDER:
Marc-Andre Fleury (16-12-3 / 2.82 GAA / .911 SV%)

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS INJURIES:
Sergei Gonchar (left shoulder surgery) - on injured reserve
Mike Zigomanis (shoulder) - on injured reserve
Ruslan Fedotenko (broken right hand) - on injured reserve

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS LEADERS:
GOALS: Evgeni Malkin (21)
ASSISTS: Evgeni Malkin (54)
POINTS: Evgeni Malkin (75)
+/-: Evgeni Malkin (+17)

MONTREAL CANADIENS LINE COMBINATIONS:
Sergei Kostitsyn - Tomas Plekanec - Alexei Kovalev
Christopher Higgins - Saku Koivu - Matt D'Agostini
Max Pacioretty - Maxim Lapierre - Sergei Kostitsyn
Alex Henry - Steve Begin - Tom Kostopoulos

Andrei Markov - Mike Komisarek
Josh Gorges - Roman Hamrlik
Ryan O'Byrne - Francis Bouillon

MONTREAL CANADIENS PROBABLE GOALTENDER:
Carey Price (17-8-5 / 2.53 GAA / .913 SV%)

MONTREAL CANADIENS INJURIES:
Mathieu Dandenault (left arm surgery) - on injured reserve
Georges Laraque (lower body) - on injured reserve
Alex Tanguay (separated left shoulder) - on injured reserve
Robert Lang (left Achilles surgery) - out indefinitely
Guillaume Latendresse (shoulder) - week-to-week

MONTREAL CANADIENS LEADERS:
GOALS: Robert Lang (18)
ASSISTS: Andrei Markov (33)
POINTS: Andrei Markov (40)
+/-: Andrei Markov (+9)

The Montreal Canadiens are hurting. They're missing Robert Lang, their leading goal scorer, among many others. They've only won one game in their last six. If there was ever a time for the Penguins to strike, it's tonight.

Unfortunately Carey Price will be at the other end of the ice.

Price was outstanding during the last meeting between the Penguins and Canadiens. He was the main reason the Habs were victorious.

Just like every game, the Penguins need this win. Their line-up is finally getting healthier. They need to start winning.

Tyler Kennedy will miss this game with a suspension. Phillipe Boucher will be a scratch as will Alex Goligoski, for some reason. Goligoski deserves to play, at least until Gonchar returns.

Paul Bissonnette was returned to WBS and has been replaced by Luca Caputi in the line-up. This will be Caputi's NHL debut.

In other news, the Penguins have named Evgeni Malkin the permanent alternate captain for the remainder of the season. The days of alternating the 'A' each month are over. Brooks Orpik will be the other alternate until Sergei Gonchar returns to action. This is a great move. Malkin definitely deserves the honour.

Hopefully Petr Sykora sees decent playing time tonight. He is third on the team in scoring and deserves to be on the ice more, especially during power plays.

Prediction: 3-2 Penguins