HabsWorld.net -- 

The Habs will look to get back into the win column on Friday night as they
travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres in a battle for 2nd in the division. 
Montreal is coming off a tough overtime loss to Tampa Bay while Buffalo dropped
their last contest 1-0 to New Jersey.  Carey Price is expected to get the
nod for the Habs while Ryan Miller will likely start for Buffalo.

Montreal has made some changes to their lineup as Alexandre Picard is expected
to draw back into the lineup in place of Ryan O’Byrne which has shifted the
defence pairings around.  Benoit Pouliot, who leads the Habs in hits, has
been dropped to the 4th line in place of Travis Moen, who moves up alongside
Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta.  Here are the projected lines for the Habs:

Forwards:
Cammalleri – Plekanec – Kostitsyn
Moen – Gomez – Gionta
Eller – Halpern – Lapierre
Pyatt – Boyd – Pouliot

Defence:
Hamrlik – Spacek
Gill – Gorges
Picard – Subban

As for Buffalo, they will be without Repentigny native Jason Pominville who
remains out the lineup with a concussion as a result of a hit from Chicago’s
Niklas Hjalmarsson on Monday.  His ironman streak of 336 games came to an
end in their loss to New Jersey.  Defenceman Shaone Morrisonn will also
miss this one with a groin injury.  Buffalo’s projected lines:

Forwards:
Hecht – Roy – Stafford
Ennis – Connolly – Vanek
Gaustad – Niedermayer – Grier
McCormick – Gerbe – Kaleta

Defence:
Butler – Myers
Leopold – Montador
Sekera – Rivet

Inside the Numbers:

– The Habs rank 27th in the NHL in shots allowed at 36.7 per game – Buffalo
averages nearly 33 shots per game so the defence will need to buckle down.
– Buffalo d-man Tyler Myers is -6, good for second worst in the NHL
– Montreal’s powerplay has yet to score while the Sabres’ PK is almost 93%.

Puck drop is at 7:30 PM EST, the game can be seen on RDS.