MONTREAL -- Its said that home is where the heart is. For the Montreal Canadiens, its also where the wins are.A .500 team as the opposition, Montreal (17-6-3) has been dominant at the Bell Centre this season, where theyve won 12 of 14 games and lost for the first time in regulation just a few weeks ago. Now, after a five-game road trip, they kick off a four-game homestand that begins with a tilt against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.The Canadiens are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues to close out the trip, a point lost after holding a 2-0 lead in the game. But while the team earned half of the 10 points on the table during their road trip, theyre pleased with their efforts overall.We wanted to do better and we wanted to come up with that win (in St. Louis) and get that extra point, but all of these games we battled really hard, Max Pacioretty told reporters after the game. Its not always going to go your way. Its not always going to be perfect. But, we liked the effort every night.The Canadiens have been relatively healthy through the first couple of months of the season but lately, the injury bug has begun to take a bite out of the group. After Alex Galchenyuk left the game against the Kings following a collision with center Anze Kopitar on Sunday, the Habs took another hit down the middle when David Desharnais, Galchenyuks replacement on Montreals top line, went down with an injury of his own.The team announced Wednesday evening that both would be sidelined for six to eight weeks with knee injuries. If theres a slight silver lining for the Habs, it would be the recent play of veteran pivot Tomas Plekanec. He scored against St. Louis to put Montreal up by a pair -- his first goal in just over a month and second overall -- and it was his shot that hit Paul Byron to open the scoring.The Canadiens made a swap earlier in the day among their younger forwards, re-assigning Charles Hudon to and recalling Sven Andrighetto from the AHLs St. Johns IceCaps.Montreal also re-assigned defenseman Mark Barberio, who dressed for the teams last six games. That could open the door for Zach Redmond to make his season debut. Redmond was recently taken off injured reserve after recovering from a broken foot suffered in training camp but has yet to dress for a game. Meanwhile, defenseman Nathan Beaulieu remains on injured reserve.After a rough go through the second half of November, the early days of December have been good to the Devils. New Jersey won just one of its final eight games last month but has kicked off the final month of the calendar year with two wins and an overtime loss.Their most recent triumph came in the form of a 3-2 victory against the Vancouver Canucks in a game that turned into a chippy affair after a big hit from Taylor Hall led to Canucks defenseman Philip Larsen being taken off on a stretcher.Im looking to make contact there but I never want to see a guy laying on the ice like that, Hall told the New Jersey Record, while also noting that he tried to keep his arms in and make a chest-to-chest hit.I only know how to play the game one way and youve got to play it hard.Former Canadiens winger Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, who has nine points in 25 games with New Jersey this season, had a weight lifted off his shoulder against the Canucks when he recorded his point, an assist, in seven games. He told the Record he met with coach John Hynes in the morning, who provided the veteran with a wake-up call.Im just happy to help the team win, Ive felt pretty useless the last few games, he said. I didnt get much done. Its nice to get on the scoresheet and make some plays again. I had a good chat with Hynsie this morning. He was good about it. It was kind of a wake-up call. I think you need it sometimes. Not only about not producing but, sometimes when youre not producing, you get away from your game and you start looking for other things and you dont compete as hard. Youre puck watching. Youve got to get back to basics and I think I did that.Hynes announced that Cory Schneider will get the start against Montreal. Robert Parish Jersey .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition. Wholesale Boston Celtics Jerseys . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. http://www.cheapcelticsjerseys.us/ . The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries. Marcus Smart Jersey . Aaron Harrison scored a 22 points for Kentucky (6-1), which has won four in a row following a Nov. 12 loss to current No. 1 Michigan State. Julius Randle overcame a scoreless first half and added his sixth double-double in as many games with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kyrie Irving Jersey .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. STORRS, Conn. -- Coach Geno Auriemma has one question for people who are picking his UConn Huskies as preseason No. 1: What the heck are you thinking?Sure, the Huskies have won the past four NCAA titles and are currently on another epic winning streak at 75 in a row. But with Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck all in the WNBA, the Huskies quite obviously are not the same group that went 38-0 last year and won by an average of 40 points.I never said, Well, I think a lot of teams have a chance to win the national championship, and were just one of them, Auriemma said of his preseason stance for the past few years. We knew we were favorites, and we knew why. But now, anyone that picks us No. 1, my first question is Why? Give me your rationale.Well, youve always been No. 1. OK, thats a lazy answer.Uh-huh, its always something with this guy, the master motivator. The Huskies were No. 1 in the WBCA poll and in the espnW preseason poll. They were No. 3 in the Associated Press rankings, getting six votes at the top, behind Notre Dame and Baylor.I wish we were 33, Auriemma said.As if. But if he wants to hear why some of us are voting UConn No. 1, its not out of laziness. Its out of experience. As the saying goes, weve seen this movie before.UConn won three NCAA titles in 2002-04, and then Diana Taurasi went to the WNBA. After that, admittedly, came three years of falling short of the Final Four. But those were still very good UConn teams.In 2004-05, the Huskies went 25-8 and lost to Candice Wiggins and Stanford in the Sweet 16. The next year, UConn was 32-5 and fell to Monique Currie-led Duke in the Elite Eight. Then in 2006-07, the Huskies were 32-4 and lost in the regional final again, this time to Sylvia Fowles and LSU.That 2007 season was the last time the Huskies didnt reach the Final Four. Even in 2012 -- a year after losing Maya Moore and two years after the graduation of Tina Charles, a duo that had led the way in UConns 90-game winning streak of 2008-10 -- the Huskies still got to the national semis.And from 2013-16, they were NCAA champions again. So why are we picking UConn No. 1? Because even without the obvious star right now, the Huskies still have some very talented players and a coaching staff that has more championship experience than you can find almost anywhere in any sport.What the Huskies dont have are all the answers. Who is their emotional leader? Who is the player who gets on everybodys case when its necessary? Who can keep everyone calm? Who will stand tall when they face on-court challenges? Because, unlike recent years when that virtually never happened, it probably will this season.And that includes during their first two games: at No. 12 Florida State on Nov. 14, and at home against No. 2 Baylor on Nov. 17.You cant force leadership on people, said Kia Nurse, one of the most obvious candidates for that role. What happens is the upperclassmen all step up together, and we develop our own leaderrship traits.dddddddddddd We have to figure out how to work together, and make sure thats a presence all the younger guys hear every day.It actually isnt just older players like Nurse, who averaged 9.3 points per game, and fellow junior guard Gabby Williams (8.8) in that role, though -- sophomores Katie Lou Samuelson (11.0) and Napheesa Collier (6.8) need to do it, too.Were trying to do the things we learned from the seniors last year, Samuelson said. All four of us know we have to be really solid every single day we practice or play. Were going to be the ones that disperse the energy throughout the team.All of us knew coming here we would eventually be in this situation. We were fortunate to learn from the three best leaders in the country, I would say. I think its going to keep getting better.The Huskies have three freshmen -- guards Molly Bent and Crystal Dangerfield and forward Kyla Irwin -- being immersed in UConn culture, along with transfers Azura Stevens (Duke) and Batouly Camara (Kentucky). Asked if she could pinpoint what leadership trait from last years seniors that she most wanted to pass on now, Samuelson didnt hesitate.Just how much we all trusted them, she said. Every single day we knew what we were going to get from them in practice. Stewie, Morgan and Mo were just consistently solid every day. Weve been trying to be that same kind of core group to rely on.Samuelson, who sustained a broken bone in her foot in the national semifinal game against Oregon State last April, had to watch the second half of that game and then the championship from the bench. She said shes now at 100 percent.And some classic Auriemma sarcasm was directed her way after the Huskies first exhibition game Tuesday, a 111-39 victory over Indiana of Pennsylvania, so you know she must be doing OK.Im sure any day now, sometime within the next four or five months, Lou will throw a pass, Auriemma said. And well have made some progress.He also joked about whether some magical force had taken over the body of senior guard Saniya Chong because, Right now, shes in a really good place. You got to remember, this kid was really, really good coming out of high school. It kind of got away from her. Hopefully shes got it back a little.It might be fair to wonder if Chong perhaps was just swept along in the tide of greatness that dominated the Huskies. Maybe this season, finally, she -- along with everyone else on the team -- knows that they really can be difference-makers. In fact, they will have to be. Stewart, Jefferson and Tuck cant come to the rescue and take over.Auriemma is intrigued by how his Huskies will deal with that realization.Its hard to know how some people will perform when theres no safety net, he said. And until theyve been in that situation, maybe they dont know. And its our job to help guide them through it. China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Stitched Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Authentic Jerseys ' ' '