The age-old rivalry of the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins resumes tomorrow night, with the scenery changing to TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts as the two teams face off for the second of three meetings in an eight-day span.
The two clubs met for the first time this season on Saturday at the Bell Centre, with the visitors coming out on top 4-3 in the fourth round of the shootout when Brad Marchand got one past Carey Price.
The result was obviously overshadowed by the scary injury to Phillip Danault near the end of the second period. With the score deadlocked at three apiece, Boston captain Zdeno Chara fired a slapshot that caught Danault in the had, and he immediately went down. After a stretcher removed him from the ice and the players went to the dressing room prematurely, the Habs lost focus on the game, caring more about the health of their fallen teammate.
The Canadiens then played the New York Islanders on Monday night, coming back twice from two-goal deficits and rallying to force overtime. Max Pacioretty scored in his fourth straight game, giving him 11 on the season.
Forwards Paul Byron, Nicolas Deslauriers and Jonathan Drouin rounded out the scoring for Montreal. For Drouin, it was his first goal in 14 games, having not scored since the end of November. Rookie defenceman Jakub Jerabek contributed with his first two career NHL assists.
Islanders captain John Tavares potted home the overtime game-winner. The game saw Montreal firing on all cylinders, with a total of 56 shots in goaltender Thomas Greiss’ direction, but the Habs were unable to outscore the talented offence they hosted.
With just a single point in each of their past two games, the Habs will hoping to leave Boston with a full complement of two tonight.
How to watch
Puck drop: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: Sportsnet (English), RDS (French)
In the US: NBCSN
Elsewhere: NHL.tv/NHL GameCentre Live, NHL Center Ice
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistic | Bruins |
|---|---|---|
| 18-20-6 | Record | 24-10-8 |
| 0-0-1 | H2H Record | 1-0-0 |
| 51.5% | Corsi-for pct. | 52.9% |
| 115 | Goals for | 137 |
| 138 | Goals against | 108 |
| 19.4% | PP% | 20.7% |
| 78.2% | PK% | 82.8% |
The current struggles have put the Canadiens nine points back of a wild-card spot and the thread attached to their playoff hopes has begun to fray.
For Boston, they have had an opposite season. Despite their struggles early on, they have bounced back and are currently in second place in the Atlantic Division. They are on a 13-game stretch without a loss in regulation. Their last defeat in regulation was back on December 14: a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.
On Monday evening, the Bruins clawed their way back from a 2-0 deficit against the visiting Dallas Stars and tied it up on goals by Chara and forward Ryan Spooner before former Bruins second-overall pick Tyler Seguin scored 2:59 into overtime.
Montreal and Boston will round out the week on Saturday night when the teams return to the Bell Centre. At this point in the season, the points are a hot commodity and they will need to get the win tonight to have a chance at claiming this in-season series.
