Former Canadien Alex Kovalev hopes to snap a nine-game point-less slump Monday against the Canadiens, who are home to an Ottawa Senators team that's lost five straight.
Mike Stobe, NHLI via Getty Images

• AUDIO: Senators coach Cory Clouston | Alex Kovalev (to come) | Daniel Alfredsson

The Ottawa Senators, losers of five straight heading into Monday's huge game against the Canadiens, held an optional practice this morning at the Bell Centre, and 16 players skated for an hour.

Coach Cory Clouston maintains his team is doing a lot of things right, and it was an upbeat dressing room after practice; no moping despite the team's current skid. Nick Foligno and former Canadien Alex Kovalev were the last off the ice, having been out for a full 90 minutes until they were asked to leave, hundreds of Casino de Montréal employees and their familiies waiting to enjoy an afternoon of skating on the Habs' rink.

Senators not skating today: captain Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Chris Phillips, Andy Sutton, Milan Michalek, Chris Campoli, Filip Kuba and Erik Karlsson.

The Canadiens have the day off. They'll skate Monday morning in Brossard, while the Senators will skate once more at the Bell Centre.

Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak makes a pad save behind Maple Leafs forward Nikolai Kulemin and Canadiens defenceman Hal Gill Saturday night. Mike Cassese, Reuters

Preview | Matchups | Saturday's NHL schedule | Boone's Game Blog and About last night ... | Stubbs on Twitter | Hickey's game story

AUDIO: Scott Gomez | Brian Gionta | Benoit Pouliot | Jaro Halak | Jacques Martin

• At a Glance: The Canadiens played catchup all night on Saturday, bouncing back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to force overtime in Toronto before losing 3-2 in a shootout, snapping a season-high six game winning streak. Tyler Bozak opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs on the power play 16:05 into the first period. Brian Gionta got that one back before the end of the first on a great feed from Benoit Puliot. Gionta beat Jonas Gustavsson with a backhand shot. Phil Kessel gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead near the end of the second period, beating Jaroslav Halak from the faceoff circle. Montreal came out flat in the third period despite starting the period on the power play, with only two shots on goal halfway through the period. But Fredrik Sjostrom took a tripping penalty 12:31 into the period, and Gionta tipped in a Scott Gomez shot to tie the game 2-2. It was Montreal's only power-play goal on six opportunities on Saturday, while the Maple Leafs scored on their lone man advantage.

• Key Moments: Gionta's goal with six minutes to play was only Montreal's fourth shot of the third period, but it gave the Canadiens at least a point.

• What It Means: The Canadiens fall to 36-29-7 and move to 79 points with the shootout loss, moving them into a tie with the Senators and Flyers for fifth spot in the East.

• What's Next: Montreal has a busy week ahead of it with games on Monday against the Senators at home, then in Buffalo on Wednesday to take on the Sabres, then back home to take on the Panthers on Thursday and the Devils next Saturday.

Jaroslav Halak and the Canadiens will be looking to extend their current winning streak to seven games tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It was no surprise when Jacques Martin confirmed that Halak will get the start tonight. In his six previous wins, he has posted a 2.06 goals-against average. A win tonight would give him the longest winning streak for a Montreal goaltender since José Theodore had seven consecutive wins in 2002.

Habs forward Travis Moen with Montrealer David Nerman, whose cut-resistant hockey socks are gaining a foothold in the NHL and beyond.
Phil Carpenter, Gazette

You might recognize Montreal native David Nerman as Albert, the long-time manservant angel in the Philadelphia Cream Cheese spots. But Canadiens forward Travis Moen knows him as the man who might have saved him a crippling injury.

The Habs are among a growing list of NHL clubs and minor- and beer-league teams wearing the Tuff-n-Lite cut-resistant hockey sock recently introduced by Nerman, who starred in the first two seasons of Lance et Compte in the mid-1980s (photo of him with a familiar hockey trophy below).

Nerman, once coached in Outremont baseball by current Habs GM Pierre Gauthier, was spurred into action when he saw defenceman Andrei Markov seriously hurt Oct. 1, a left foot tendon slashed in a collision with netminder Carey Price. Habs equipment manager Pierre Gervais has bought a supply of Nerman's socks, the majority of the team now wearing them, and says that Markov wouldn't have missed a game if he'd been wearing them.

• Feature story on that here, along with this morning's Gazette preview of tonight's Habs-Leafs matchup and a Stubbs column on yesterday's return to practice of Michael Cammalleri.

• AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Brian Gionta | Michael Cammalleri | Roman Hamrlik

Michael Cammalleri returned to practice with his teammates today but will not play tomorrow in Toronto. Nor will rehabbing Marc-André Bergeron play tomorrow.

But coach Jacques Martin targets the return of both for the next week, the Habs embarking on an eight-day stretch that will see them play five games. Martin said he thought Bergeron could play Monday at home vs. Ottawa, with Cammalleri being evaluated daily.

Defenceman Paul Mara leaves Montreal this weekend for Boston and will undergo shoulder surgery next Tuesday, which pretty much spells the end of his season.

Mara has officially been listed as "did not dress" the past eight games and was listed as injured for 11 games before that. He is signed with the Canadiens only through the end of the season.

No words on Saturday's starting netminder. That should come during morning skate at the Air Canada Centre.

• UPDATE, 11:28 am: All present and accounted for, including Plekanec, with the exception of Mara. Butch Bouchard had expressed a desire to see the Brossard facility and again meet Ryan O'Byrne, who gave up his No. 3 for Bouchard's jersey retirement.

• UPDATE, 11:19 am: Cammalleri on ice with Habs. Legendary former captain Émile (Butch) Bouchard was at the players bench not long ago in his wheelchair. What a place.

• UPDATE, 10:45 am: Habs goalies Halak and Price have been on the ice since 10:15, taking shots from Darche and Maxwell with goalie coach Proulx. Cammalleri's water bottle is on the boards in front of the bench, suggesting he might practice with the team today for the first time since his knee injury Jan. 30 in Ottawa.

The Canadiens are on Brossard practice ice this morning at 11:30 before chartering to Toronto for Saturday's game vs. the we'll-get-'em-next-year Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Air Canada Centre game will begin a stretch of five games in eight nights for Montreal, continuing Monday at home vs. Ottawa, in Buffalo Wednesday, home to Florida on Thursday and home to New Jersey next Saturday. Then, three days off before facing Carolina at home on March 31.

We'll be at practice today. Updates and audio to come here after the workout; live updates on Twitter here.

Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier announced today the signing of free agent forward Hunter Bishop to a two-year contract (2010-11 and 2011-12). He will report to the Hamilton Bulldogs early next week.

Marc-André Bergeron practised with the Canadiens this morning for the first time since he injured his knee last month. He said he felt good and was energized by being back with his teammates but his return to the lineup is on hold. He said he won't dress for the Saturday game in Toronto. 

Michael Cammalleri skated on his own after the regular practice and said he hopes to practice with the team next week. 

Tomas Plekanec, who was questionable for the Rangers game Tuesday, took a therapy day but will play in Toronto. Defenceman Paul Mara also took the day off. 

Veteran Canadiens photographer Bob Fisher is currently lining up the troops on Bell Centre risers for the Habs' second team photo of the year, the traditional second shot scheduled after the trading deadline to present the club that is going to/toward the playoffs.

The Canadiens are expected to be practising in about an hour. Marc-André Bergeron is due to be skating with his teammates, but not yet, apparently, is Michael Cammalleri.

Updates and post-practice audio to come.

Former Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau, photographed last Saturday in the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast booth at the Bell Centre.
Dave Sidaway, Gazette

• Gazette feature: On his 50th birthday, Carbonneau looks ahead and back

• Texte en français: At CKAC Sports

Guy Carbonneau turns 50 on Thursday, happy with the many good things in his life.

And this birthday promises to be less eventful than No. 49.

A year ago to the day, Carbonneau sat before a news conference at the Bell Centre, nine days after he’d been fired as the Canadiens' 28th head coach, a job he'd viewed as his destiny.

He answered questions for nearly an hour, addressing his dismissal by then GM Bob Gainey that had taken him and many others by surprise.

An ad in the Montreal Gazette from March 1955, offering the suspended Maurice Richard employment at a butcher supply shop.

It was an event that changed the political landscape in Quebec, giving birth to a nationalist movement and the so-called Quiet Revolution.

Maurice (Rocket) Richard always maintained that he was "just a hockey player," but a star-struck population, its French-speaking citizens in want and even need of a hero, would never let him be that.

NHL president Clarence Campbell's suspension of Richard for a violent outburst during a game March 13, 1955 would ultimately lead to the Richard Riot four nights later, St. Patrick's Day.

And the civil unrest and its fallout would become a cornerstone moment in Quebec's history.

Canadiens historian and Habs Inside/Out friend Robert Lefebvre has put together this tremendous look back at the event and what led to it, using the Internet in the best way to offer a multimedia tour.

Absolutely essential reading for any Canadiens fan.

The Canadiens have earned a day off today, winners of six consecutive games and this morning sitting in sixth place in the NHL's Eastern Conference, a healthy seven points inside the playoff cut.

Not playing again until Saturday in Toronto vs. the Maple Leafs, the Habs returns to practice ice tomorrow at 10:45 am. For fans who attend, note that this session is at the Bell Centre, not Brossard as usual, and is not open to the public.

The Rangers' Sean Avery has Canadiens' Brian Gionta in a headlock as Scott Gomez helps his teammate Tuesday night. Al Bello/Getty Images

Preview | Matchups | Tuesday's NHL schedule | Boone's Game Blog and About last night ... | Stubbs on Twitter | Basu's Playoff Checkup | Hickey's game story

AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Jaro Halak | Glen Metropolit | Jaro Spacek | Tomas Plekanec

• At a Glance: The Canadiens extended their winning streak to a season-high six games on Tuesday with a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers. The Canadiens got goals from Glen Metropolit in the first period, his 16th, and Sergei Kostitsyn in the third period, his sixth of the season. Super pest Sean Avery scored for the Rangers in the second period, but that was only one of only 20 shots the Rangers had on Jaroslav Halak. The Canadiens dominated most of the game, including outshooting the Rangers 18-5 in the second period. Tomas Plekanec, who was a game-time decision, scored an empty-net goal to seal the win.

• Key Moments: The Canadiens killed off a power-play in the final minute of the game during which the Rangers enjoyed a 6-on-4 advantage after pulling Henrik Lundqvist. Plekanec scored his goal shorthanded with 36 seconds to play.

• What It Means: Montreal improves to 36-29-6 and 78 points, moving ahead of the Flyers for sixth spot in the Eastern Conference after the Flyers lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Predators. The Flyers have two games in hand, however. Montreal also opens up a seven-spoint lead on the Rangers, who remain in ninth place. The Canadiens are also only one point behind the Ottawa Senators for fifth place.

• What's Next: The Canadiens are in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday. They are then home to welcome the Senators to Montreal on Monday to start a busy week that also includes games against the Sabres, Panthers and Devils.

• AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Brian Gionta

Jaroslav Halak gets the start in goal for the Canadiens tonight vs. the New York Rangers. Halak is 1-3-0, 4.11 average lifetime at Madison Square Garden, which is totally meaningless, of course, considering his just-keeps-winning play of late; this is his sixth straight game, having won every game in the Habs' five-game winning streak. For the record, he's 4-3-0 lifetime overall vs. the Rangers with a shutout, 3.28 GAA and .899 save percentage.

It's a game-time decision on centre Tomas Plekanec, who left practice for medical attention Thursday in Montreal for a mysterious injury, thought to be to a hip. Plekanec was first on the ice at Madison Square Garden this morning, 15 minutes ahead of his teammates' scheduled 11 am skate. Head coach Jacques Martin expects Plekanec will play, but if he's unable to go, Ben Maxwell, who arrived from Hamilton last evening on a callup, will see action.

Ben Maxwell has been recalled from the Hamilton Bulldogs by the Canadiens on the eve of their game in New York and only hours after Tomas Plekanec left practice on Monday with an injury.