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The Montreal Canadiens seemingly swooped in at the final hour to acquire winger Thomas Vanek in an effort to improve their playoff chances. Vanek is expected to make his Habs debut tonight when the club looks to push its unbeaten streak over the Phoenix Coyotes to 15 straight games. Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges is returning to Montreal on Thursday to have a hand injury reevaluated by team doctors. Watch the game live on TSN Habs tonight at 9pm et/10pm at. You can also listen to the game live on TSN Radio Montreal 690. The Canadiens posted a 4-3 shootout win over the NHL-leading Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night hours after getting Vanek from the New York Islanders in exchange for prospect Sebastian Collberg. Montreal will also part with a 2014 second-round pick should it make the playoffs while also getting a fifth rounder back from New York. That seems like a safe bet with Vanek in the fold. The 30-year-old Austrian winger is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer, but he could help Montreal in its push to the playoffs this spring. Vanek has 21 goals and 32 assists over 60 games this season with the Islanders and Buffalo Sabres. "The most important thing is to make the playoffs and right now I have a chance to do so. This is why we play," Vanek said on Montreals website. "Anything can happen in the playoffs, especially when you have a goalie like Carey Price, who I think is one of the best in the league. Ive played with Ryan Miller and Carey is just as good." Montreals win last night has the club in second place in the Atlantic Division with 77 points, three ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs and four up on the fourth-place Tampa Bay Lightning. While Vanek mentioned playing with Price, the Habs netminder has missed all five games since the league resumed action following a break for the Winter Olympics. Price aggravated a lower-body injury during that tournament and it is unknown when he will return to action. Peter Budaj started the first four games in Prices absence and finally got a game off last night. Dustin Tokarski made his first NHL appearance of the season and stopped 39 shots before halting four of the six skaters he faced in the shootout. After Saku Koivu failed on his attempt for Anaheim in the tiebreakers sixth round, Andrei Markov fired a shot that beat Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller five-hole to improve the Habs to 6-1-1 in their last eight games. "He played unbelievable," Markov said of Tokarskis play. "He made great saves to keep us in the game." Brendan Gallagher registered a goal and an assist, while Max Pacioretty and Brian Gionta also scored for the Canadiens, who were coming off a 2-1 setback in Los Angeles on Monday that opened a four-game road trip. The swing ends on Saturday versus San Jose. Budaj is likely to return to net tonight and is 8-3-3 lifetime versus the Coyotes with a 2.70 goals against average. Montreal will try to avoid its first loss in this series since a setback on the road on Dec. 9, 1998. The Canadiens have gone 11-0-0 with three ties in the 14 meetings since, winning five times and posting one tie in the desert over that span. The Coyotes can ill-afford to see that winless streak extended as they come in one point back of the Dallas Stars for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Phoenix snapped a four-game slide on Tuesday with a 1-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Antoine Vermettes 22nd of the season, scored in the first period provided Mike Smith with the only support he would need, as the 31-year-old netminder turned aside 23 shots, 11 in the third period, to secure his third shutout of the season and 27th of his career. "It was kind of a sloppy hockey game, but we won," Phoenix head coach Dave Tippett said. "Thats all we need right now." The Coyotes finish off a three-game homestand tonight before hitting the road for four in a row and should have Martin Erat in the lineup tonight after picking up the winger in a trade with the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. Erat notched one goal and 23 assists in 53 games with the Caps this season. Smith is 2-1-3 with a 2.22 GAA in seven career meetings with the Canadiens. Tim Mayza Jersey . Iwakuma pitched seven strong innings to stay unbeaten in road games since last July, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night. Cecil Fielder Jersey . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/1666h-mike...-blue-jays.html. -- Max Gilbert captured his first pro victory at the Tour Championship of Canada. Sean Reid-Foley Jersey . According to a report from CSN Bay Area, the 49ers are bracing for 6-8 game suspension for their outside linebacker. Teoscar Hernandez Jersey . Granlund scored 2:04 into the first period. Max Reinhart, on his first NHL shift of the season, neatly stripped the puck from Zack Smith at the Senators blue-line. As he moved in, his attempted shot deflected into the slot where Granlund buried a shot past Craig Anderson.SAN DIEGO - More than 24 hours later, Antonio Gates still couldnt believe it — or explain it.The Chargers 37-0 loss at Miami on Sunday was their worst defeat in 18 years.Ive never been a part of something of that magnitude at all in my sports life, period, said the star tight end, whos been with the Chargers since 2003.What had Gates shaking his head Monday afternoon was that a Philip Rivers-led team crossed the 50-yard line only once, on the opening drive. That drive ended when rookie Branden Oliver was stuffed on fourth-and-1 from the Miami 22.In this league, you just dont lose like that. Guys are too talented, guys are too good. It just wasnt our day, Gates said.I dont want to blame absolutely no one. I take the blame about what I could have done to prevent that, he added. Thats the message that we as veteran leaders send to the rest of the group: What can you do better to help us win. What can you do better to help us prevent a situation like that. Thats real hard to do. I mean, for a team to beat us like that, it just wasnt the San Diego Chargers that Ive been a part of that, that weve built. It wasnt our best performance by far.The Chargers (5-4) are in a freefall going into their bye, having lost three straight games by increasingly larger margins.After rallying to beat winless Oakland, the Chargers lost at home to Kansas City, 23-20, and then on the road to Denver, 35-21. Theyve gone from being tied for the NFLs best recoord at 5-1 to now needing to rally to get a playoff berth.ddddddddddddSundays debacle was their worst loss since a 45-7 defeat to New England in 1996. It was their first shutout loss since a 34-0 defeat at Kansas City in 1999, when Jim Harbaugh was their quarterback.Rivers was intercepted three times and lost a fumble. It got so bad that Rivers made way for backup Kellen Clemens. The line played so poorly that San Diego had only 50 yards on 19 rushes.Coach Mike McCoy didnt have any answers on Monday.We flat out played poor, obviously. Look at the scoreboard. Its not going to lie, McCoy said.The coach said no one could blame the preparation.We had the right mindset going in, understanding the importance of the next game, playing a good team, on the road, going to Miami, what it means playing a conference opponent and whats at stake there, the importance of those games. We played poor as a team. We did a poor job coaching.When you get beat 37-0 you obviously did something wrong, McCoy said. Its hard for me to think of a game that Ive been involved in thats been like that in a long time. Its part of the game and its a perfect example of, you dont go out and play your best game, youre going to get exposed. We got exposed in a lot of areas.After their bye, the Chargers host the Raiders.___Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson___Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '