The Bruins welcome in the Montreal Canadiens to the TD Garden for their penultimate meeting of the season. With the Bruins only one point ahead of the Habs in the Northeast Division and Eastern Conference standings, there will be no time to shake off the rust for those players that didn’t skate in the Olympics.
Tuesday's game begins a stretch of 22 games in 40 nights that will determine whether this team is playing in the playoffs.
When And Where
Tuesday, March 2, 7 p.m. (NESN)
TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Records
Bruins (27-22-11, 65 points, third place in Northeast Division, seventh place in Eastern Conference)
Canadiens (29-28-6, 64 points, fourth place in Northeast Division, eighth place in Eastern Conference)
Head to Head
The Bruins have only beaten the Habs once this season and it was during their last meeting, when Tuukka Rask made 36 saves in a 3-0 shutout at the Bell Centre. The two teams will meet once more on March 13 in Montreal.
The Bruins trail the season series 1-1-2. Montreal leads the lifetime series 163-132-56-2.
Skinny
It may be easy to forget because the Bruins haven't laced 'em up in more than two weeks, but before they hit the Olympic break, the Bruins caught fire. After going 10 games without a win, Boston took four straight on the road. The streak started with a 3-0 win and Montreal, and now the Bruins are hoping to pick up where they left off.
According to Milan Lucic, he and his teammates are "refreshed" and ready to get back into the grind by renewing their rivalry with the Canadiens.
"I think anytime we play them, it's a huge game — and add to that how close we are in the standings, it shouldn't be a problem getting up for this game and getting right back into the swing of things," Lucic said. "I think we've had some good practices over the last four days, and we're refreshed and ready to go."
Projected Lineups
Bruins
Forwards
Daniel Paille-Marc Savard–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Michael Ryder
Marco Sturm–Vladimir Sobotka–Miroslav Satan
Milan Lucuc–Steve Begin–Byron Bitz/Shawn Thornton
Defensemen
Zdeno Chara-Dennis Wideman
Derek Morris-Matt Hunwick/Mark Stuart
Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk
Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask
Tim Thomas
Canadiens
Forwards
Andrei Kostitsyn–Tomas Plekanec–Sergei Kostitsyn
Marc-Andre Pouliot–Scott Gomez–Brian Gionta
Dominic Moore–Maxim Lapierre–Travis Moen
Mathieu Darche–Glen Metropolit–Matt D'Agostini/Tom Pyatt
Defensemen
Ryan O’Byrne–Andrei Markov
Roman Hamrlik–Jaroslav Spacek/Paul Mara
Hal Gill–Josh Gorges
Goaltenders
Jaroslav Halak
Carey Price
Goaltender Matchup
Bruins
Tuukka Rask is 14-7-4 with a 2.09 GAA and a .928 save percentage. Rask started the last six games prior to the Olympic break and won four straight.
Tim Thomas is 13-15-7 with a 2.52 GAA and a .915 save percentage. Thomas has four shutouts and is winless (0-4-2) in his last six starts.
Canadiens
Jaroslav Halak is 17-10-2 with a 2.56 GAA and a .923 save percentage with three shutouts. In his last visit to the Garden, Halak made 45 saves on 47 shots in a 3-2 shootout win, but then he lost to the Bruins 3-0 back home at the Bell Centre, making 24 saves on 27 shots. In his last game before the break, Halak was pulled after allowing five goals in two periods during a 6-2 loss to the Flyers on Feb. 14. Halak will be on the bench on Tuesday after playing in the Olympics with Slovakia and flying straight to Boston to meet his teammates.
Carey Price is 12-18-4 with a 2.81 GAA and a .911 save percentage and is expected to start on Tuesday. In his last start, he made 30 saves in a 3-2 loss to the Flyers on Feb. 13. He also made eight saves and allowed a goal in a period of relief for Halak in a 6-2 loss to Philadelphia the next night. Price has not lost to the Bruins yet this season, which includes an outstanding 42-save performance at the Garden in November.
Stat Sheet
Bruins
Patrice Bergeron is back from Vancouver with a gold medal and leads the team with 37 points.
Zdeno Chara is second on the team in points with 33 and leads the team with 28 assists.
Marc Savard had a six-game point streak snapped in his last game before the break. He has 30 points this season.
In Boston's last game, a 3-2 shootout win, Mark Recchi tied the game 11:44 into the third period and then won it for the Bruins in the eighth round of a shootout. Recchi has 30 points this season.
Dennis Wideman had two assists in the 3-2 shootout win over Florida and now has 16 helpers and 19 points this season.
David Krejci scored a goal in the Bruins' last game and now has 11 lamplighters and 31 points this season.
Canadiens
Tomas Plekanec leads the team in assists with 43 and in points with 60.
Brian Gionta scored the game-winning shootout goal against the Bruins on Feb. 4. He has 17 goals and 31 points in 42 games played
Scott Gomez scored a goal in the 3-2 loss to Philadelphia on Feb. 13 and went into the Olympic break with three goals and four assists in six games.
Former Bruin Glen Metropolit is a Bruins killer since joining the other side of the rivalry. Metropolit has scored a goal in each of the Habs' three wins against Boston and has four points against his former team this season.
Black and Blue
Bruins
Patrice Bergeron announced Tuesday morning that he suffered a groin injury during the Olympics and will not play.
Canadiens
Marc-Andre Bergeron left during the third period of the Boston game on Feb. 4 after he was hit by a shot. He suffered a knee injury and the Canadiens say he will be out of action until mid-March.
Michael Cammalleri suffered an injury to his right knee against Ottawa on Jan. 30. He didn’t require surgery and he is apparently on schedule to return in mid-March.
This Date in Bruins History
On March 2, 1972, Bobby Orr becomes the first NHL player to reach 100 points in three seasons with a two-point game in a 7-3 win over Vancouver.
Overheard
"There really isn't anything you can do about it, and you work with the guys you have. Right now, the players I have here are the players I plan on having until I'm told otherwise. That's how I'm approaching it. Last year, we did that, and that's exactly what we got. We didn't give up much and got a couple players to give us some depth, and it worked out well for us."
–Bruins head coach Claude Julien on the impending trade deadline
Press Box
Bruins
The Bruins are ready for the grind of 22 games in 40 nights.
What will the Bruins do at the trade deadline?
Marco Sturm is ready for the stretch run after playing for Germany in the Olympics.
Canadiens
Carey Price will be between the pipes for the Habs.
The Habs have yet to name a captain.
The agent for the team's leading scorer, Tomas Plekanec, and new GM Pierre Gauthier are talking contract for the impending UFA.
NHL
The wheeling and dealing before Wednesday's trade deadline has started and there are plenty of defensemen on the market.
Here's a great site with trade rumors and analysis.
Sad story on Caps goalie Jose Theodore.
Outlook
After more than two weeks off for the Olympics, both the Bruins and the Canadiens will be dealing with some rust. But the Bruins need to remember what they were doing when they essentially salvaged their season by winning four straight before the break, and they need to apply that intensity again to kick off the final 22 games. The Bruins finally have the confidence they need, and now it’s just a matter of maintaining it. That starts with a win on Tuesday.
