Montreal (29-19-6) at Edmonton (26-23-4), 10:00 p.m. EST
EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- The reeling Montreal Canadiens
make the second stop of their season-high six-game road trip
when they visit the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
Mired in a three-game skid, Montreal is coming off a 6-2
drubbing at the hands of the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Rookie Matt D'Agostini and Tomas Plekanec scored and defenseman
Roman Hamrlik notched two assists for the Canadiens, who opened
their trek in brutal fashion.
Jaroslav Halak turned aside 35 shots, but Montreal fell to 2-8-0
in its last 10 games - scoring two or fewer goals seven times
during that stretch.
Halak played in place of All-Star Carey Price, who has notched
just two wins since coming back from a groin injury on January
21. Since his return, he has started eight straight games but
surrendered three or more goals in seven.
Edmonton has dropped four of its last five and did little to
rebound from a horrid defensive effort in Saturday's 8-3 setback
to the Detroit Red Wings. On Sunday, the Oilers fell, 3-2, in a
shootout to the Minnesota Wild.
This contest comes at a turbulent time for Edmonton, which
learned it will be without defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky for the
remainder of the season due to right shoulder surgery.
In addition, there have been reports the Oilers may be
interested in luring nine-time All-Star Jaromir Jagr from the
Kontinental Hockey League.
However, Kevin Lowe, the team's president of hockey operations,
is indicating the Czech icon is not coming to Edmonton - at
least not this season, according to the Edmonton Journal.