The prodigal son returns. Well, in this case, I guess the family will return to the prodigal son.

When the Habs visit town tonight for an Atlantic Division showdown, Tomas Plekanec will face the Montreal Canadiens, the team for which he played 981 games across 15 seasons, for the first time since being dealt.

You know, Tomas, tonight would be the perfect opportunity for you to prove you’re actually not a sleeper agent sent here by Marc Bergevin to dismantle the Toronto Maple Leafs from within.

Then again, that’s exactly what a sleeper agent would think! Trust no one.

Andreas Johnsson on the 3rd line? Heck yeah, buddy!

In all seriousness, it’s pretty remarkable that, given Leo Komarov’s injury, Mike Babcock still chose to slide Dominic Moore over to the wing rather than slotting Matt Martin back in.

For all the grief we give Babs for his often mind-numbingly bad lineup choices, he deserves credit here.

In other words, the same as in Buffalo.

Connor Carrick rebounded from a truly horrendous outing against Dallas to snipe a point shot home versus Buffalo, belaying his inevitable banishment to Josh Leivo territory upon Zaitsev’s return.

Not to mention, Roman Polak has played surprisingly well lately. I mean, having him in a top-4 role is still absolutely terrifying, but far less terrifying than it would’ve been a month ago.

My expert analysis can best be summed up in the clip below:

Folk’s, Mike Rielly is their #1 RHD. Need I say more?

It’s a darn shame Claude Julien couldn’t have let Rinat Valiev face off against the team that drafted him tonight, on national television no less.

Is it an organizational mandate for the Habs must suck the fun out of literally every situation?

Curtis (McVezina) McElhinney will tend goal tonight, playing in his third consecutive game. Such a development brings forth some questions:

Would it have been nice to see Garret Sparks get some game action against a thoroughly terrible team? Yes.

Has McElhinney played so well lately that starting anyone other than him would be highly irresponsible and a vicious slap in the face to a veteran contributor? Also yes.

The guy has a .931 save percentage on the year. You literally cannot ask for anything more out of your backup.

On the losers side, Antti Niemi gets the starting nod for the Habs. Now, it would be easy to mock Montreal for being left with Niemi as their starting option. But, we should really be thanking him.

Niemi and his .931 save percentage are singlehandedly tanking the Habs’ draft lottery odds with each passing save.

Now that’s something to cheer for. The puck drops at 7 pm.