The Montreal Canadiens managed to escape Thursday's season opener in Toronto with a 4-3 overtime win -- despite being outshot by a 46-27 margin -- thanks to a game-winning tally from Josh Gorges with 10 seconds to play in the extra period.
While Montreal won the game, it proved to be a very, very costly win as two-time All-Star defenseman Andrei Markov left in the third period after awkwardly colliding with goaltender Carey Price.
Multiple Canadian media outlets, including TSN, Sportsnet and RDS, reported that Markov could miss anywhere between two-to-four months early Friday, and the Canadiens confirmed Friday afternoon that the defenseman will be on the shelf for the next four months after undergoing surgery for a lacerated tendon in his ankle.
Pop quiz: Who was the second highest scoring defensemen in the NHL this past season? Nicklas Lidstrom? Zdeno Chara? Dion Phaneuf? Good guess. Nice Try. Not even close. The answer? Montreal's Andrei Markov with 68 points.
The 30-year-old has been one of Montreal's top players the past four years, and trailed Alexei Kovalev by just a single point for the team lead in scoring in 2008-09, registering a team-high 39 points on the power play.
Before Bobby Orr entered the NHL way back in 1966, the idea of a defenseman scoring 100 points would have been considered lunacy. After all, forwards were rarely coming within spitting distance of the century mark, and defensemen were never really used as offensive weapons. Orr, of course, changed all of that, and not only became the first rearguard to ever lead the NHL in scoring, he eclipsed the 100-point plateau an unthinkable six times.
Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.
In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins rallied from a bit of a swoon around the All-Star Break to easily win the top seed. Even if you subscribe to the idea of Boston being favored because of their strong overall record, there are no sure things in these here playoffs. Who will threaten to knock the Bruins off their pedestal?
The playoffs might not start for another week, but Tuesday's throw down in Madison Square Garden between the Rangers and Canadiens might as well be a playoff game. How big is this game? Well, if we believe Larry Brooks of the New York Post, this is the biggest regular season game the Rangers have played since the lockout. Yeah. It's that big.
The Montreal Canadiens are still fighting for a postseason berth, and they're going to continue that fight on Monday night without the services of defensemen Andrei Markov and Mathieu Schneider. Their status is also uncertain for Tuesday's tilt with the Rangers.
Markov is currently leading Montreal with 64 points, and is one of only two defenseman to lead a team in scoring (Mark Streit of the Islanders is the other).
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.
Blue Jackets 2, Predators 1:Raffi Torres may only have 12 goals this season, but he sure has a knack for getting them when they count. His goal at the 4:05 mark of the third period in Columbus' 2-1 win over Nashville was his sixth game-winner of the season, helping get the Blue Jackets back in the win column after dropping three of their past four games. Steve Mason turned aside 21-of-22 shots in net to earn his 32nd win of the season.
On Saturday night, the Montreal Canadiens continued their season of disappointment by getting crushed by Toronto, 5-2, on home ice. The recent struggles have left more than a few fans, like the fine folks over at Four Habs Fans, slightly perturbed.
Entering Monday night's action, Montreal could wake up on Tuesday morning on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture if Florida can knock off Carolina. So, where has it all gone wrong for the Canadiens in what was supposed to be a season of glorious centennial celebration?
It seems the only thing holding back Montreal's power play this season was the absence of a 40-year-old defenseman to work the point.
When the Canadiens acquired Mathieu Schneider from Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, they were converting on only 16.1 percent of their attempts with the man advantage, 24th in the NHL. That was quite a slide from the No. 1 ranking Montreal's power play had a season ago when the Canadiens entered the postseason as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Montreal Canadiens managed to escape Thursday's season opener in Toronto with a 4-3 overtime win -- despite being outshot by a 46-27 margin -- thanks to a game-winning tally from Josh Gorges with 10 seconds to play in the extra period. 
FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his 
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.
The Montreal Canadiens are still fighting for a postseason berth, and they're going to continue that fight on Monday night without the services of defensemen 
It seems the only thing holding back Montreal's power play this season was the absence of a 40-year-old defenseman to work the point. 
