In this episode we take a look at this weeks Habs games, Prust’s possible return, and Beaulieu being called. We also talk about the trade deadline and what Marc Bergevin could or should do!

My special guests for this episode are Laura Saba(@theactivestick) and Luca LaPorta(@HabsTalk2013).

Listen to Episode 1 here:

Aaron Palushaj out 4-6 weeks after injury in practice.

The Hamilton Bulldogs hit the road for a 4 game road trip starting off tonight in Chicago. This is a pretty important road trip for the Dogs, because 3 of the 4 teams they will face are only 2 or 3 points ahead of them and are all in the bottom 5 of the Conference. The Chicago Wolves (10-9-3) sit 11th in the Western Conference 4 spots ahead of the last place Hamilton Bulldogs, but only 3 points separating the two teams. Both the Wolves and the Dogs have horrible special teams, the Wolves are ranked 28th on the powerplay and 29th on the penalty kill. The Bulldogs are ranked 29th on the powerplay and 20th on the penalty kill. Brendan Gallagher leads the club with 72 shots in 21 games and Joonas Nattinen leads the club in shooting percentage at 19% rate, Also since coming on board Mike Commodore has averaged 2 penalty minutes per game in 5 games.

The Bulldogs let Alain Berger go earlier this week as he refused to report to the ECHL Wheeling Nailers, and has now signed on with SC Bern of the Swiss League. The Dogs have also called up Olivier Fortier from the ECHL Orlando Solar Bears to replace the injured Palushaj. Aaron Palushaj sustained an injury during practice and is said to be out for 4-6 weeks, could be a big blow to the Dogs. Blake Geoffrion is still out indefinitely with a compressed skull fracture and is currently at his hometown in Tennessee. Defensemen Greg Pateryn is also out with a fractured elbow and is still another 2-3 weeks away from returning. It seems like Alexander Avtsin and Zack Stortini are glued to the press box, and the only a positive out of that is we don’t have to see Stortini’s bone headed plays cost the team a goal. Once again I think it’s only a matter of time when Avtsin gets another opportunity to play because the Dogs have not scored more than 3 goals in a game since Nov 16th against the Marlies in a 6-3 win.

Bulldogs Projected Lines

Forwards

Patrick Holland – Brendan Gallagher – Mike Blunden
Michael Bournival – Stefan Chaput – Louis Leblanc
Steve Quailer – Daryl Boyce – Gabriel Dumont
Kyle Hagel – Joonas Nattinen – Zack Stortini

 Defenseman

Frederic St-Denis – Brendon Nash
Jarred Tinordi – Mike Commodore
Nathan Beaulieu – Morgan Ellis

Goaltenders

Cedrick Desjardins
Robert Mayer

• Tonight’s game will start at 8:00pm et and will be live on TVA Sports and AHL Live or you can listen to it on AM 820 Funny.

Nathan Beaulieu has 4 assists in the last 3 games.

Lake Erie Monsters are in town to face the Hamilton Bulldogs tonight at 7:30pm. The Dogs (8-10-2) won their last game 3-2 over the Hershey Bears (11-12-1) they played a strong defensive, team game and got the scoring support from Mike Blunden, Patrick Holland and Joonas Nattinen. The Bulldogs and Monsters will play the 2nd of 8 meeting’s through the season, Lake Erie won the 1st game 4-1. The Bulldogs only won 1 of 8 meetings last year versus the Monsters and will be looking to change that this time around.

Tonight’s game will also hold the Hamilton Bulldogs annual Toy Toss, when the Dogs score their first goal all the fans that brought stuffed toys will throw them on the ice to be then later donated to the United Way and their charitable partners. Let’s hope the Dogs score early an often…

Team Leaders

•  Note: The Monsters have played 4 more games then the Dogs.

Bulldogs Lineup

Forwards

Michael Bournival – Stefan Chaput – Aaron Palushaj
Michael Blunden – Patrick Holland – Brendan Gallagher
Steve Quailer – Daryl Boyce – Louis Leblanc
Kyle Hagel – Joonas Nattinen – Gabriel Dumont

 Defenseman

Frederic St-Denis – Brendon Nash
Jarred Tinordi – Mike Commodore
Nathan Beaulieu – Morgan Ellis

Goaltenders

Cedrick Desjardins
Robert Mayer

• The game can be seen live from AHL Live or can be heard on the Radio Here
• More on the Toy Toss 2012