Habs, Flames have different issues

The Calgary Flames are looking to notch their first win of the season when they continue a three-game road trip in Montreal. The Canadiens would like to emerge victorious while not seeing another player drop from the lineup in the process.

The Flames have given up five goals in each of two games so far this season, both regulation losses.

Coach Brent Sutter has the laudable goal of getting Henrik Karlsson more activity this season, but raised eyebrows among some observers by starting the Swede against St. Louis, a club No. 1 Miikka Kiprusoff has often enjoyed success against.

Kiprusoff is expected to be back in the crease on Thursday at Bell Centre.

The ideal that can be stated about the game against the Blues was that the Flames improved on some subpar special teams results against Pittsburgh in the opener. Jarome Iginla scored a power-play goal, while the club held the Blues without a goal on three tries with the man advantage (although they did score 4-on-4).

Former Canadien Alex Tanguay is among a group looking to notch their first goal of the season, with Matt Stajan, Lee Stempniak and David Moss also included.

Montreal is making its home debut after losing the opener in Toronto and then spoiling the party for Winnipeg in a 5-1 drubbing of the Jets.

The Canadiens lost defender Chris Campoli for several weeks against the Leafs to a hamstring injury, while forward Mike Cammalleri and defender Jaroslav Spacek had short outings in Winnipeg.

Cammalleri suffered a gash on his leg, with an estimated return date of 10 days to two weeks. Spacek is out two to three weeks with what is believed to be a shoulder injury.

The team is still awaiting blue-liner Andrei Markov’s debut after almost a year out of action due to torn knee ligaments.

The injuries are expected to provide more ice time for forwards Aaron Palushaj, Alexei Emelin and defenders Raphael Diaz and Yannick Weber.

The Habs have a quartet of forwards expected to hit the scoresheet with some regularity who are without a point through the first two games. They are: Erik Cole, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta and Andrei Kostitsyn.

Should goalie Carey Price get the call on Thursday, he will have the opportunity to win his 100th career game.

Calgary has gone 3-1-1- in the last five against the Habs, with the last meeting the outdoor game at McMahon Stadium on Feb. 20.

Calgary will be back in action on Saturday in Toronto on Hockey Night in Canada (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 6:30 p.m. ET). The Habs are part of the same telecast in a regional game at Bell Centre against Colorado.

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More Source:

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Submited at Thursday, October 13th, 2011 at 6:00 pm on Sports by ethan
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