One Island, Two Teams: Game Preview 12-19-09

(Cut me some slack with the title. I don't even remember the last time I did one of these.)


Oh right, picture.

Scary! Or maybe not. The message here should be "beat us, and watch out for your equipment van." But that's slightly too ominous (and fire isn't funny, kids) so we'll stick with these two simple words:

ANDREI MARKOV!

In addition to this much-awaited comeback, there may be hope for another Czech sausage pass, as Roman Hamrlik may also make a return to the lineup tonight. There are too many conflicting reports of that in my Gmail inbox so I will merely shrug my shoulders and wait until 7:08 like the rest of you.

Also making the trip is Superman er, Brian Gionta. It's like Santa took a giant sparkly box with a CH logo and gave a piece of it to every Canadiens' fan.

As for the Islanders, they are young, they are motivated, and definitely not to be taken lightly, even if the last two games against them have been W's for the Habs' record. Both teams are starved for offense lately, with the top guns having slowed down their points pace (save Andrei Kostitsyn, the man responsible for 63% of the Habs' goals over the span of the last four games).

So now we talk about them Islanders

• For those hiding under a rock for the last three years, the young man pictured up there is John Tavares. He's going to want to get fired up again, as his last contribution to the scoresheet was an assist in a win against Boston last week. He seems to like Saturday night games, as 11 of his 27 points have been on Saturdays.
• Blake Comeau, for his part, showed he did not enjoy his recent time in the pressbox. Of the last four games he's suited up for recently, he's registered a point in three of them.
• Frans Nielsen was a key in Thursday night's loss against the Rangers with one goal, one assist.
• Ex-Hab mention in today's column of course goes to Mark Streit, who despite the rough go he seems to be having this season is always somebody to look out for, especially with Montreal's recent penalty-taking tendencies.