The Time: 7:00 PM EDT
The Broadcast: TV - MSG+, Radio - 970 AM WNYM
The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (17-13-1) at the Montreal Canadiens (13-12-7)
The Previews: Tom did the preview for this game, so please go check that out if you haven't yet. As for a perspective from tonight's opponents, Kevin van Steendelaar has this preview up at Habs Eyes on the Prize.
A Song for Tonight: All the way from Princeton, Saves the Day turned out to be an influential pop-punk band about a decade or so ago. Here's one of the tracks from their second album Through Being Cool: "Shoulder to the Wheel." I don't know whether Jacques Martin feels this way right about now.
Gameday Info: Big news out of Montreal via NHL.com: the Canadiens fired their head coach Jacques Martin this morning. Assistant coach Kevin Cunneyworth will be behind the bench interim in the mean time. Andrew Berkshire was certainly surprised over at Habs Eyes on the Prize; and Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette says Martin was a scapegoat. I can understand the team not being happy at 13-12-7, but they've been battling injuries and some poor post-regulation fortune. I'm not sure how a new coach will fix either? Firing assistant Perry Pearn didn't make everything right for Montreal, by the way. How will this affect the Canadiens tonight, who knows.
As for the Devils, the only real news of substance is that Henrik Tallinder will not play tonight. He didn't play last night due to back spasms; and he did not travel with the team, as reported earlier today by Tom Gulitti. Gulitti also recently tweeted that Matt Taormina will be in the lineup in Tallinder's absence, replacing Alexander Urbom.
As usual, you can use the comments in this post to discuss today's game before, during, and after it happens until the recap is up later tonight. Please remember the rules at all times, namely: keep your comments clean, keep them on topic (namely about the two teams in this game), and keep them legal (read: nothing about illegal streams - no links, no discussion, no requests). Go Devils!