The Hall of Fame goaltender is returning to the National Hockey League as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, the team he helped lead to two Stanley Cup victories after being traded by the Canadiens.

The Avalanche announced late Thursday afternoon that it had reached an agreement in principle with Roy, who was also named the team’s vice-president of hockey operations.

“This is an unbelievable day for me,” Roy said in the team’s statement announcing his appointment.

“It’s a new and exciting challenge that I am really looking forward to. I would like to thank (owner) Stan and Josh  (team governor) Kroenke for this opportunity as well as Joe Sakic for the trust they are putting in me. Almost 10 years to the day that I announced my retirement as a player I am back in Denver and hope the fans are as excited as I am.”

The team said Roy will also work with Sakic, his former teammate who is now the Avalanche’s executive vice-president of hockey operations, on player personnel decisions.

“All along Patrick was our top candidate and we are thrilled that he has decided to accept this offer,” Sakic said in the statement.

“Patrick has a great hockey mind, is a tremendous coach and there is no one more passionate about this game. He will bring that winning attitude to our dressing room to help this young team grow.”

The Avalanche plans to hold a news conference with Roy next week in Denver.

Roy is part owner of the Remparts  in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and has served as the team’s coach and general manager. The Remparts won the Memorial Cup in 2006 during Roy’s tenure as coach.

At this year’s MasterCard Memorial Cup underway in Saskatoon, Canadiens prospect Dalton Thrower has been suspended for the remainder of the tournament. Thrower, a defenceman with the Saskatoon Blades, was suspended for a check to the head on Taylor Leier, a forward with the Portland Winterhawks, when the two teams faced off Wednesday night.

Roy named head coach of Avalanche, montrealgazette.com

Roy brings his temper and his talents to Colorado, by Stu Cowan

(Gazette file photo)

“You don’t change the makeup of a team overnight,” Bergevin said. “It takes a long time to change the makeup of a team. Obviously, there’s 29 other teams that want to be big, fast and strong, but that’s easier said than done. But I believe balance is very important. You can’t win with all big guys and you can’t win with all small guys.”

Bergevin, who has six picks in the first three rounds of next month’s NHL entry draft, said his philosophy is to select the best player, but added one option was to take size into consideration.

“It’s easier said than done because everyone is looking for those players, but we’ll look at it, for sure,” Bergevin said.

One of the players Bergevin could be looking at is Samuel Morin, a 6-foot-6, 202-pound defenceman with the Rimouski Océanic. Morin jumped from No. 76 in Central Scouting’s midterm rankings to 23 on its final list last month of draft-eligible North American skaters. That’s right around where the Habs are slated to pick in the first round.

The club also announced that defenceman Alexei Emelin underwent successful reconstructive surgery on the ACL and MCL in his left knee and that his recovery is estimated at six months. Emelin suffered the injury when he collided with the Boston Bruins’ Milan Lucic in the first period of a game on April 6 at the Bell Centre. The surgery was delayed to allow the swelling in Emelin’s knee to go away.

Nygren, 22, was signed to a two-year contract after playing 51 games with Karlstad Farjestad in the Swedish elite league. He led all defencemen with 13 goals and had 32 points, to go along with a plus-11 and 49 penalty minutes and won the Salming Trophy as the league’s top defenceman. The 6-foot-1, 191-pounder was selected by the Canadiens in the fourth round (113th overall) at the 2011 NHL entry draft. 

Collberg, 19, signed a three-year contract after playing 35 games with the Frolunda Indians in the Swedish elite league, posting 6-3-9 totals with six penalty minutes. The 5-foot-11, 181-pound right-winger also played in 15 games with Orebro HK in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan, posting 6-2-8 totals and two penalty minutes. He finished the season in Hamilton, playing two games with the AHL’s Bulldogs.

Collberg was also part of the Swedish team that won a silver medal at this year’s world junior championship, posting 4-2-6 totals in six games. He was selected by the Canadiens in the second round (33rd overall) at the 2012 NHL entry draft.

Financial terms of the contracts were not disclosed.

(Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

The Hockey News names Habs’ Gallagher top rookie, by Stu Cowan

Raphael Diaz was part of the Switzerland team that settled for silver after losing 5-1 to Sweden in Sunday’s final. It marked the first medal at the tournament for Switzerland in 60 years. Diaz logged 20:45 of ice time in the gold-medal game.

Alex Galchenyuk was the star for the United States in the bronze-medal game, scoring twice in the shootout during a 3-2 win over Finland after the Americans blew a 2-0 third-period lead. Canadiens prospect Danny Kristo, a second-round draft pick in 2008 (56th overall) was also on Team USA.

Other Canadiens players who participated at the world championship were Tomas Plekanec (Czech Republic), P.K. Subban (Canada) and prospect Tim Bozon (France), a third-round pick (64th overall) at last year’s NHL entry draft..

(Photo by Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

The NHL announced on Friday morning that the three finalists are Bruce Boudreau of the Anaheim Ducks, Paul MacLean of the Ottawa Senators and Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Quenneville won the award previously with the St. Louis Blues in 1999-2000, while Boudreau won it in 2007-08 with the Washington Capitals. This marks the second straight year MacLean is a finalist after losing to Ken Hitchcock of the St. Louis Blues last year.

The Canadiens do have three finalists for NHL awards: Brendan Gallagher is up for the Calder Trophy as the top rookie, P.K. Subban for the Norris Trophy as the best defenceman and Marc Bergevin for the top GM award.

(Photo by Pierre Obendrauf/The Gazette)

Adams finalists: Boudreau, MacLean, Quenneville, NHL.com

Team Canada lost 3-2 in a shootout to Sweden in the quarterfinals Thursday, marking the fourth straight year Canada will return home without a medal after losing in the quarterfinal round. It was the only game Subban played for Team Canada, joining the squad late after the Canadiens were eliminated in the first round of the NHL postseason.

Three other Canadiens players will take part in Saturday’s semifinals. Alex Galchenyuk, who scored a goal, and prospect Danny Kristo are part of the United States team that beat Russia 8-3 in the quarterfinals, while Raphael Diaz is on the Switzerland team that beat Tomas Plekanec and the Czech Republic 2-1.

Finland will play Sweden in Saturday’s semifinals (8:45 a.m., TSN, RDS), while Switzerland takes on the United States (12:45 p.m., TSN).

Sweden’s Fredrik Pettersson scored the winner in the fourth round of the shootout Thursday against Canada with a slapshot from the slot. Subban was held off the scoresheet while logging 23:39 of ice time.

(Photo by Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images)

Sweden eliminates Canada, montrealgazette.com

Rogers is willing to buy TSN Radio 690, by Steve Faguy

Gretzky collection goes on the auction block, montrealgazette.com

Senators look to slow down Penguins’ stars, by Bruce Arthur of Postmedia news

Subban, a finalist for this year’s Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman, was paired with Jay Harrison of the Carolina Hurricanes.

It will be interesting to watch Subban on the bigger international-size rink in Sweden. Subban played junior hockey with the OHL’s Belleville Bulls, who play their home games on an international-size rink at Belleville’s Yardmen Arena.

 ”I’m quite familiar in terms of how to take the rush and how to use the size of the ice to your advantage, but at the same token, I haven’t played on that rink in four or five years,” Subban told Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press Wednesday in Sweden. 

“This is my first game of the tournament. It’s been four days since I played a game and it’s a little bit different coming from a playoff game thinking you’re not even going to play hockey until next September to all of a sudden being in quarter-final game, Canada versus Sweden. That alone is a challenge.”

Canada beat Sweden 3-0 in the preliminary round of the tournament, but the Swedes have since added three Vancouver Canucks players to the lineup: forwards Daniel and Henrik Sedin, along with defenceman Alex Edler.

Four other Canadiens players will be taking part in Thursday’s quarterfinals: Tomas Plekanec (Czech Republic), Raphael Diaz (Switzerland), Alex Galchenyuk (United States) and prospect Danny Kristo (United States).

Here’s the schedule for Thursday’s quarterfinal games, which will all be televised on TSN and RDS:

Russia vs. United States, 5:45 a.m.
Switzerland vs. Czech Republic, 8:30 a.m.
Finland vs. Slovakia, 11:15 a.m.
Canada vs. Sweden, 2 p.m.

Below are a couple of videos of Subban from the 2009 world junior championship when he won a gold medal with Team Canada:

Diaz still skating at worlds, by Dave Stubbs

Rangers-Bruins renew Original Six rivalry in playoffs, by Stu Cowan

(Photo by Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since the Canadiens in 1993 and the Senators are now the country’s only hope this year.

Our latest HIO poll asks which Eastern Conference team would you most like to see in the Stanley Cup final, and as of noon Wednesday 50 per cent had voted for the Pittsburgh Penguins, followed by the Senators (24 per cent), New York Rangers (22 per cent) and Boston Bruins (4 per cent).

The Senators were beaten 4-1 by the Penguins in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.

“It’s them and Chicago, they’ve been the two best teams in the whole league this season,” Senators defenceman Erik Karlsson told reporters after the game, while not ruling out his team’s chances against the Penguins. “Even though we’re not the best team on the ice all the time, we’re still finding ways to win.”

You can get the latest news on the Senators from the Ottawa Citizen’s version of Hockey Inside/Out, Senators Extra. Check it out by clicking here.

(Photo by John Mahoney/The Gazette)

Pens brush aside pesky Senators in opener, by Bruce Arthur of Postmedia News

Epic collapse leaves empty feeling in Leafs, by Bruce Arthur of Postmedia News

How many Maple Leafs does it take to win the Stanley Cup? by Stu Cowan

Four Original Six teams still in playoffs, montrealgazette.com

That’s a question Tomas Plekanec has heard many times while a member of the Canadiens.

The 25-year-old goaltender struggled during the team’s late-season slump.

“Can Carey be better? He’ll be the first one to admit he can be better and he said he will be better,” Bergevin told reporters in Brossard.

“I have faith in him that he will be better. He had some good stretches and he had some so-so stretches. And that’s part of being a young goaltender and we’re going to move forward with him and I’m 100 per cent behind him.”

When players cleared out their lockers at the team’s training facility in Brossard on Saturday, Price said one thing he missed was being anonymous – something that’s tough to do in Montreal – adding that he doesn’t even go to the grocery store anymore, likening himself to a “hobbit in a hole.”

Bergevin said he wasn’t worried, but a bit surprised.

“They’re things we’ll talk about it,” the GM said. “And I’m here to help him – come up with solutions to help him.”

If it’s really a problem – and it’s a discussion he’ll have with Price – Bergevin said they’ll do everything to support him and help him get past it.

“Maybe I can do his groceries for him so he doesn’t need to go,” Bergevin joked.

Bergevin said Price talked to the media after the team lost, after he got hurt and after “he didn’t feel he performed up to his potential.”

The GM added: “The first step is that he faced the music, which to me that showed character.”

Bergevin also noted that goalies mature later than other players. If a forward plays a bad game, it often goes unnoticed unless you really pay attention.

When players go through rough patches, you can still win. But if a goalie has a tough period of time, usually the results aren’t very good.

“So that’s why the pressure is higher and that’s why they mature older,” Bergevin said. “And Carey is still in the process of maturing as a young goaltender. But I have 150 per cent faith in Carey Price.”

Bergevin gave credit to the Ottawa Senators, who beat the Canadiens 4-1 in their first-round playoff series. They played well, he said, and deserved to win the series.

Inevitably, Bergevin was asked whether he wants to beef up the Canadiens.

“I believe in balance,” he said.

“We do have a small team, but we’re a fast team, we’re a young team.

“You don’t change the make-up of a team overnight. And it takes a long time to change the make-up of a team. So, obviously, there’s 29 other teams that want to be big, fast and strong. But that’s easier said than done. But balance is very important. You can’t win with all big guys and you can’t win with all small guys.”

Character comes into play, Bergevin added.

“I don’t care how big you are, if you have no character you’re not going to succeed,” he said.

“You look at a guy like Brendan Gallagher – one of the smallest guys in the league but character off the charts. So we’ll need a balance. And that’s my job moving forward to bring balance to our club.”

Asked what he believes is the Canadiens’ greatest need moving forward, Bergevin said there was more than one.

Depth is the most important thing to him. It’s what gets you through the playoffs and you don’t add it at the trade deadline, he said.

“You got to bring depth through your draft, through your young prospects coming through,” Bergevin added.

“So the mindset, the game plan stays the same. I’m standing Pat. I made it clear from Day 1: I want to make this team good for years to come, not just for one year.”

Bergevin did say the team, which has six picks in the first three rounds at this June’s NHL draft, would look at more size.

“But again, it’s easier said than done. But we’ll be looking at that for sure.”

Louis Leblanc, the Canadiens’ first-round draft pick in 2009, took a step back this season with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, Bergevin acknowledged.

“He knows that and he knows he has to be better, ” Bergevin said.

“Louis knows it’s a big summer for him” added Bergevin, who said Leblanc is still part of the Canadiens’ plan.

“And it’s going to be up to him. But he’s a good young player that we hope one day we’ll play here.”

(Photo by Dario Ayala/The Gazette)

It was also announced on Monday that Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban will join Team Canada for the remainder of the World Hockey Championship in Stockholm and will join the squad in time for Thursday’s quarterfinal game.

While the bulk of the Canadiens players are signed for next season, Bergevin will have decisions to make this offseason on a number of restricted and unrestricted free agents.

The GM’s first order of business will be dealing with Tomas Kaberle, who has one year remaining on a contract the Canadiens acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes. Bergevin is expected to save $4.25 million in cap space by using his second amnesty buyout on Kaberle. He used the first one before this season started on Scott Gomez.

Lars Eller doesn’t remember being hit during Game 1 of the Habs’ playoff series with the Ottawa Senators or being carried off the ice on a gurney. But the popular Canadiens’ forward reports that he’s feeling well after suffering a concussion, broken nose and broken teeth when he was checked by Senators defenceman Eric Gryba.

“I don’t remember much. There’s a good gap of a 10-minute period where I don’t remember anything,” Eller told reporters Saturday at the Canadiens’ practice facility in Brossard.

“But I’m happy to be where I am today and feeling how I’m feeling,” he said.

“As a matter of fact, I’m getting close to actually be playing again so it could have been a lot worse.”

Eller and the rest of the team cleared out their lockers on Saturday in Brossard. They also underwent exit physicals and met with Canadiens’ general manager Marc Bergevin and head coach Michel Therrien.

Eller said he had several symptoms for a few days that are quickly starting to go away.

“I’ve been feeling really good for the last three or four days and have been allowed to step up my training and get back close to game shape. So the recovery has been going really well.”

While he doesn’t have any symptoms per se from the concussion, Eller said: “I have done some tests that point to the fact that I’m not recovered completely. But as far as symptoms go, I would say symptom-free.”

He declined to comment on the hit, which landed Gryba a two-game suspension.

“The suspension was handed out and I’ll leave it at that.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be the last hit in the NHL that we’re going to see like that,” Eller said. “I think the league is doing the right thing, trying to get those things out of the game. That’s all I’m going to say.”

“It was an awful experience for everybody that watched, especially my family” said Eller, who added he is grateful to “still be able to play hockey and be where I am.”

You can hear what players had to say about the season below. 

You can hear what Eller had to say below:

You can hear what goaltender Carey Price had to say below:

You can hear what Brandon Prust had to say below:

You can listen to P.K. Subban here:

You can hear Max Pacioretty below:

You can hear Brendan Gallagher below:

You can listen to Josh Gorges here:

You can hear what Jarred Tinordi had to say below:

You can listen to what Colby Armstrong had to say below:

Missing from the Game 5 loss to the Senators on Thursday night that eliminated the Canadiens were goalie Carey Price (knee), captain Brian Gionta (torn bicep tendon), Lars Eller (broken nose, teeth, concussion), Ryan White (upper-body injury), Alexei Emelin (knee) and Brandon Prust (upper-body injury).

Prust gave The Gazette’s Dave Stubbs the details about his “upper-body” injury, which was a separated rib (ouch!).

Prust suffered the injury in Game 4. When he returned to the Canadiens dressing room he pressed his palms against his rib cage and popped the rib mostly back into place.

The Canadiens saw their season come to an end with Thursday night’s 6-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

Senators eliminate Canadiens in Game 5, by Pat Hickey

A silver lining to this dark cloud, by Dave Stubbs

Look to the future, Plekanec says, by Pat Hickey

Senators win series 4-1, NHL.com

Game 5 photo gallery

Aislin cartoon on end of Habs season

Senators crush Canadiens to advance, by Ottawa Citizen

Who’s up for another round, by Ottawa Citizen

Another year without a Cup for Habs fans, by Stu Cowan

Catching up with some former Habs, by Stu Cowan

My pressbox neighbour, Marc De Foy, was writing his column for the Journal de Montréal. The title: “Which were the real Montreal Canadiens?”

A reasonable question to ask, because the Montreal Canadiens who surprised and delighted their fans through 40 games of the truncated season was not the team that stumbled down the stretch and exited the playoffs ignominiously against the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed.

Did the undersized Canadiens run out of gas? If so, how will they cope with an 82-game schedule.

Bear in mind, also, that the Canadiens played one game outside the eastern time zone this season – and it wasn’t until Game 47, a 4-2 win in Winnipeg. How will they fare with a schedule that will include 28 games against the Western Conference?

Have you watched any of the playoff series between the defending champion L.A. and St. Louis? If the Canadiens were physically dominated by Ottawa, how do you think they’d fare against the Kings or Blues? There’d be a team meeting in the Emergency ward.

My great and good friend Mitch Melnick made this point during his pre- and postgame analysis on TSN 690: The Montreal Canadiens have to get bigger. Speed and skill may notch a few regular-season wins against the Buffalo Sabres, but the playoffs are a whole new ballgame.

Look, I’m not biased against small players.

The great Martin St. Louis is a first-ballot Hall of Famer who just won the Art Ross Trophy. Cory Conacher, St. Louis’s former teammate, scored twice in Game 5 for Ottawa.

Barring injury, Brendan Gallagher is going to be a terrific player for many seasons to come. But Gallagher is part of a lineup that also includes David Desharnais and Brian Gionta.

Gallagher and DD were skating against an Ottawa defence that includes 6’5″ Jared Cowan, 6’3″ Marc Methot, 6’3″ Chris Phillips and 6’4″ Eric Gryba. Patrick Wiercioch, who’s 6’5″, was a healthy scratch.

Contrast this with the Canadiens.  Jarred Tinordi, 6’6″, is part of a defence corps that includes Francis Bouillon, Josh Gorges and Raphael Diaz.

Ottawa set the tone in Game 1 of the series. While being outshot 50-31, the Senators outhit the Canadiens 31-24. Eric Gryba ended Lars Eller’s season, and Max Pacioretty sustained a shoulder separation that the team kept secret while Max soldiered on like a latter-day Bob Gainey.

In the only game the Canadiens won, they outhit the Senators 37-26 last Friday. But on Sunday at Scotiabank Place, physical dominance was restored. Ottawa outhit the Canadiens by a slight margin, 47-44, but that doesn’t include the punches they landed in winning all those fights.

Then in the series’ pivotal game, Ottawa recorded 61 hits en route to the OT win that gave them a stranglehold on the series.

Brandon Prust, who missed Game 5, led the Canadiens with 19 hits in the series. Pacioretty, bum shoulder and all, had 14.

Chris Neil had 29 hits for Ottawa. Methot had 18.

And hits don’t tell the whole story.

I don’t want to take anything away from Craig Anderson. The Ottawa goaltender was the MVP of the series. To say Anderson was better than Carey Price is like saying ice cream is better than broccoli.

Not even close.

But Anderson was protected by the aforementioned hulking defencemen who denied the front of the net to what few Canadiens dared venture there.

It was a different story at the other end of the rink. Price’s lack of help was exemplified by the crease-crashing scramble that sent Game 4 into OT … and ended the Canadiens’ goaltender’s season.

For Melnick, me and doubtless many others, this is Marc Bergevin’s biggest off-season priority. The Canadiens’ general manager has to make his team bigger, tougher and harder to play against.

Bergevin knows this. In 1,271 regular-season and playoff games in his well-traveled career, Bergevin spent 1,142 minutes  in NHL penalty boxes. His brain trust – Rick Dudley, Scott Mellanby and Larry Carrière – were all tough NHLers.

And the Canadiens’ director of scouting – Trevor Timmins, who survived the purge of the Gainey-Gauthier regime – knows how to find players. And the Canadiens have six picks in the first three rounds of what is supposed to be a very good draft.

Assuming Lars Eller makes a full recovery, the Canadiens are set at centre. They’ve got Prust, Pacioretty, Rene Bourque and Travis Moen at left wing.

There’s an issue on the right side. Behind Gallagher, the Canadiens have a Gionta of diminishing skills, plus Ryan White, Michael Blunden and, if they re-sign him, Colby Armstrong.

Michael Ryder? He’s outta here. Total crap against Ottawa, while playing for a new contract.

The core of the D is the great P.K. Subban, the promising Tinordi and, hopefully, the recovered Alexei Emelin. Gorges and Diaz are undersized and Bouillon was used too much.

Andrei Markov? During the regular season, everyone said his superb vision and hockey sense compensated for the fact he can’t skate anymore. The Senators managed to expose the latter problem.

So here’s my shopping list for Bergevin: A tough winger who can save Prust from having to fight every night and a stay-at-home Dman who can wreak vengeance on anyone who gets too close to the crease.

As for the goaltender …

Hey, peeps, it’s going for 1 a.m. on the unhappy night that ended a long season.

Sorry, I just don’t have the energy for a Price analysis.

Maybe that should be left to the team psychologist.

Hey, it was an amazing season. Your Canadiens delivered more thrills and Ws than any of us could have hoped for.

The team has a core of outstanding young players, a solid front office and a head coach that did an excellent job.

The glass is half full.

See you in September.

•  •  •

And because we could all use some soothing after a tough playoff loss:

It was a banged up Canadiens’ team that lost their first-round playoff series against the Ottawa Senators Thursday night. Max Pacioretty was among the injured, playing with a separated shoulder that he suffered in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.

But he wasn’t using that as an excuse.

“We had tons of injuries during the year and it was just an opportunity for guys to step up and that’s no excuse for the playoffs,” a sombre Pacioretty said after the Canadiens were eliminated by the Senators 6-1 victory.

The Canadiens were without goaltender Carey Price, Lars Eller, Brandon Prust, Ryan White and Brian Gionta–all of whom suffered injuries during the series.

Despite the fact that the team was missing a lot of players, coach Michel Therrien said they started the game on the right foot with an excellent first period and played well in the second.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the Senators,” Therrien said, adding they really played well.

“(Senators goaltender) Craig Anderson was, as far as we’re concerned, the best player in the series,” Therrien said.

“He gave them a chance to stay in the game and gave them a chance to get some momentum with key save after key save.”

Therrien praised the post-season play of Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher. He noted that he’s coached a lot of young kids and sometimes because they’re nervous and don’t know what to expect it can change their game in the playoffs. But the two rookies haven’t changed their game, the coach said.

“I was really impressed with the way that those kids played in the playoffs.”

The playoff loss puts an end to a remarkable turnaround this season for the Canadiens who finished second in the Eastern Conference after their last-place finish last year.

“We made a step in the right direction,” Therrien said. “We’re very aware that there’s a lot of work to do.”

You can hear what Max Pacioretty had to say below:

And you can hear what Andrei Markov had to say below:

You can hear what Peter Budaj said here:

And you can listen to Brendan Gallagher below:

(Video: Brenda Branswell)

No Brian Gionta.

No Brandon Prust.

No Lars Eller.

No Ryan White.

No hope?

Your bruised and battered Montreal Canadiens face elimination Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

To the undoubted delight of Gary Bettman, four big-market American teams – the Rangers, Islanders, Blackhawks and Kings – are still very much alive in pursuit of the Stanley Cup.

But if Ottawa wins – and you have to like their chances – the Canadiens will join the Canucks and, imminently, the Leafs as Canadian teams unable to survive the first round of the postseason.

Can the Canadiens stay alive?

It may come down to the heroics of a Slovakian goaltender – which is not unprecedented in the annals of Montreal hockey.

Can Peter Budaj channel the playoff brilliance of Jaroslav Halak?

Puck drops 7:10ish. Check back later for live game blogging.

• The illustration of a zebra and his seeing-eye dog is by the brilliant Josie Gold, aka GG11.

• Your pre-game laughs: James Reimer’s wife turning the death stare on Dion Phaneuf’s girlfriend, former Montrealer Elisha Cuthbert. And The Goal again

The Canadiens are on the brink of elimination in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Ottawa Senators, who hold a 3-1 lead.  The teams square off in Game 5 Thursday at 7 p.m. (CBC, RDS, TSN Radio 690) at the Bell Centre.

“I’m not worried about competing,” Therrien said. “We’re going to compete like we did all series.

“I truly believe if we keep playing our game good things are going to happen to us.”

With Carey Price out for the remainder of the series with a lower-body injury, Peter Budaj will make his first career postseason start. Robert Mayer from the Hamilton Bulldogs will be the backup goalie.

“Every time we’ve called on Peter he was very good,” Therrien said. “So I have confidence in him.

“I believe our players compete hard in front of Carey and it’s the same thing in front of Peter,” the coach added. “I think guys respect (Budaj) a lot and they compete really hard for him. And it works both ways. Peter works really hard for his teammates.”

Many teams have managed to stage comebacks and that can help motivate you, Therrien said.

“But what’s important is the present,” he said. “What’s important is to ensure that our concentration is only on tonight’s game.”

Mike Blunden will be in the lineup in place of Brandon Prust, who is out with an upper-body injury. Canadiens prospect Michael Bournival was also at the team’s morning skate and will take part in the pregame warmup tonight.

Lars Eller skated again Thursday on the second sheet of ice in Brossard with Pierre Allard, the Canadiens’ strength and conditioning coach.

(Photo by Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

The Canadiens announced that Price will not return during the series against the Senators due to a lower-body injury suffered in Game 4. Peter Budaj will start in his place Thursday and Robert Mayer will be the backup. It will be the first playoff start of Budaj’s career.

The Canadiens, trailing the series 3-1, are facing elimination Thursday night.

 ”I am confident in Peter Budaj,” coach Michel Therrien said. “Every time we needed him, he performed well.”

Twenty-one players took part in the optional skate, including Mike Blunden and Michael Bournival, who spent this season with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, posting 10-20-30 totals in 69 games to go along with a minus-3 and 26 penalty minutes. Therrien said that Blunden will take Brandon Prust’s spot in the lineup while Bournival will take part in the pregame warmup.

Captain Brian Gionta, who will have surgery on a torn left bicep muscle on Friday, is done for the season, while Ryan White and Prust are definitely out for Game 5 with upper-body injuries.

“I want to beat these guys”: Subban, by Pat Hickey

Hockey world adjusting to Subban as first black superstar, by Jack Todd

Tearful end to Gionta’s season, by Pat Hickey

Do Toronto media have anti-Habs bias? by Brendan Kelly

The voices of Habs hockey, by Brendan Kelly

Audio: The sounds of sadness from Game 4 OT goal

What’s your playoff superstition, by Denise Duguay