Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien says that injured forwards Brian Gionta and Max Pacioretty will make the trip to Ottawa for Game 3 of the Canadiens’ first-round playoff series with the Senators.
The Montreal pair are listed as day-to-day with upper body injuries.
Pacioretty led the Habs in the regular season with 39 points. Gionta’s 14 goals was good for second on the team.
The Canadiens are also without Lars Eller, who was left unconscious and bleeding on the ice after taking a big hit from Ottawa defenceman Eric Gryba in the second period Senators’ 4-2 victory in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final on Thursday night.
Gryba received a two-game suspension for the hit and post-game comments about the incident have garnered much attention.
Senators head coach Paul MacLean defended his player and put the onus on Habs blue-liner Raphael Diaz, who MacLean argued left Eller vulnerable after a dangerous pass.
“(If I’m Eller), I’m really mad at player 61, whoever he is, because he passed me the puck in the middle of the rink when I wasn’t looking,” MacLean said Thursday after the Senators 4-2 win over the Canadiens in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
“That’s always been a dangerous place as far as I know. Ever since I’ve been playing this game, that’s a dangerous place to be — bad things happen.
“I think it’s a hockey play that ended up going badly for Lars Eller.”
Canadiens forward Brandon Prust responded to Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean’s comments on the Eric Gryba hit on Lars Eller Friday by saying, “We don’t care what that bug-eyed fat walrus has to say.”
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien accused MacLean of “disrespect” on Friday for his comments about the hit.
MacLean responded to Prust’s comments on Saturday, saying “I might be husky. But I’m not fat. I took offense to that.”
Despite Eller, Brian Gionta and Max Pacioretty absent from the lineup Friday night, the Canadiens evened the series against the Senators with a 3-1 victory.
Game 3 takes place on Sunday in Ottawa.
