Gonchar Debuts for Habs Against Rival Bruins

Sergei Gonchar was acquired by the Montreal Canadiens from the Dallas Stars on Tuesday and will make his debut against rival Boston tonight at the Bell Centre.

After arriving in Montreal Wednesday night, the newly acquired defenseman was paired with Tom Gilbert during the morning skate at the Canadien’s practice facility and saw heavy action on the power play paired with Andrei Markov.

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The Habs appear to have made the move to improve their less than stellar power play. Montreal is ranked 28th in the league at 7.7%, or 3 of 42 chances, on the power play this year. One was an empty net goal by P.A. Parenteau and the other by P.K. Subban the last time the Habs played the Bruins. This statistic will need to improve drastically if the Canadiens have any hopes of making another deep playoff run this year.

“He’s a guy who’s made a career out of his work on the power play,” head coach Michel Therrien told the Hab’s official website. “We’ll see how things play out, but he’s definitely a guy with a lot of experience who has always been known for his vision and quick thinking on the power play.

The 40 year old Gonchar had one assist in three games with the Dallas Stars prior to returning from a lower body injury this season, but scored 14 of his 22 points in the 2013-14 season on the power play. His 798 career points rank 16th all-time among defensemen in the league.

The Canadiens are on a three-game winning streak and face a Bruins team who may be in a bit of a funk after the way they played against Toronto last night.