The Bruins will face the Canadiens for the first time this season on Thursday when the Habs visit the Garden to open a home-and-home series. It's sure to be an emotional game with the long history of animosity between the Original Six rivals, and that might be just what the Bruins need to snap out of their early-season funk.

"A couple games back-to-back with the emotions that usually come out of games with Montreal could be good for us," Bruins forward Brad Marchand said after practice Wednesday. "We have to use it to our advantage."

Of course, it will be hard to top last year's wild showdowns between the clubs. Those meetings included a donnybrook at the Garden that produced 182 penalty minutes and a goalie fight between Tim Thomas and Carey Price. Then there was Zdeno Chara's infamous hit on Max Pacioretty, which left the Habs forward out for the rest of the season with a broken vertebra and concussion after being driven into a Bell Centre stanchion and the Bruins captain facing a criminal investigation in Quebec. Oh, and then there was that epic first-round playoff clash that wasn't settled until Nathan Horton struck in overtime of Game 7.

"It's crazy," Marchand said of the rivalry. "Just from last season we had a few ridiculous battles, right to Game 7 in overtime. You can see why it's gone back so long in history and how the fans enjoy it and how means it means every time we play them. Every time you see we're playing Montreal you mark it down on the calendar and you're always looking forward to it."

Given that history and the fact that both teams are off to disappointing starts, these two games should be especially intense for such early-season encounters. While Boston has battled its Stanley Cup hangover in a 3-5-0 start, the Habs have struggled even more. They finally snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday night, but Montreal is still just 2-5-2 on the year.

"It's going to be a big game, these games are always big," Chara said. "Not even talking about the rivalry, just as far as the standings and where both teams are I'm sure it's going to be two big games for both teams."

The Bruins may be able to channel the emotion that's always present in these matchups with Montreal to get back on track, but Boston coach Claude Julien stressed that the bigger issue facing the club is cleaning up its own game. The Bruins need to worry about themselves more than the opposition, regardless of the past history with that foe.

"Certainly Montreal is a great rivalry, but for me it doesn't matter who comes in," Julien said. "We just have to understand that we have to get ourselves winning on a more consistent basis. It's as simple as that. It's more about looking at ourselves than looking at the opponent."

And even with Montreal's historically horrific start, which included losing its first five home games for the first time in the franchise's 102-year history, Julien believes the Bruins should be just as desperate as the Canadiens.

"Anybody who is in a situation like they are or we are should be hungry," Julien said. "I don't know why they should be any hungier than we are, because we're not doing that great ourselves."

Game 3 on Monday will be vital to that cause, as the Bruins can’t afford to fall into a 3-0 hole.

They could get some help on the blue line, a captain Zdeno Chara participated in the morning skate after missing Game 2 on Saturday following a bout of dehydration that forced him to be hospitalized on Friday. Bruins coach Claude Julien wouldn’t declare that Chara will definitely be in the lineup, but did state that it was “looking good.”

Chara’s return would send Shane Hnidy back to the press box. Judging from the line combinations in use at the morning skate, it doesn’t appear that any other lineup changes are planned.

Tim Thomas was the first goalie off the ice in the morning, traditionally the indication that he would be starting that night. Postseason gamesmanship can sometimes alter those routines, but all appearances point to Chara’s likely return being the only change for the Bruins.

Julien made sure not to tip his hand on any of those decisions. On Sunday, he cited Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette‘s postseason policy of not discussing lineup decisions, goaltenders or injuries as one he would also adopt. Laviolette broke from that stand earlier on Monday, but Julien held firm when asked about any possible lineup changes.
 
“Yeah, I think I have the option of which page I want to take out of Peter Laviolette’s book,” Julien said. “I liked the pages the other day, but I didn’t like this morning’s page. Is that OK?”

One possible change would be the insertion of rookie Tyler Seguin back into the lineup, but Seguin skated with fellow “Black Aces” Jordan Caron and Jamie Arniel in what amounted to Boston’s fifth line in the morning skate. The rest of the line combinations remained unchanged from the first two games.

Montreal may have some changes though, as injured forwards Andrei Kostitsyn and Jeff Halpern could return. Both players skated Monday morning and will be game-time decisions. Kostitsyn missed Game 2 after blocking a Chara shot in the first game, while Halpern has been out since late in the regular season with a lower-body injury.

“Jeff’s close, probably a decision [that will be] made after warm-ups,” Montreal coach Jacques Martin said.

Martin also noted that he won’t hesitate to switch up his lineup if both forwards are ready to go, as he’s not concerned with maintaining the same lineup if better players are available just because the Habs have won the first two games.

“Every game is different,” Martin said. “You look at your lineup and you want to dress the best possible lineup every night.”

Projected Bruins lines

Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Chris Kelly-Rich Peverley-Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille-Greg Campbell-Shawn Thornton

Defense
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Tomas Kaberle- Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid

Goalies
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

Scratches: Tyler Seguin, Shane Hnidy, Matt Bartkowski, Jordan Caron, Jamie Arniel, Anton Khudobin

Projected Canadiens lines

Forwards
Michael Cammalleri-Tomas Plekanec-Andrei Kostitsyn
Mathieu Darche-Scott Gomez-Brian Gionta
Travis Moen-Lars Eller-Tom Pyatt
Benoit Pouliot-David Desharnais- Ryan White

Defense
Romas Hamrlik-James Wisniewski
Hal Gill-P.K. Subban
Jaroslav Spacek-Brent Sopel

Goalies
Carey Price
Alex Auld

Scratches: Paul Mara, Yannick Weber, Jeff Halpern (lower body), Alexandre Picard (lower body)

Montreal has prevailed in 24 of the previous meeting, but Boston swept the Habs in their last meeting in 2009. Which side of the rivalry will earn the bragging rights this season? Here's the Tale of the Tape.

Offense
Somewhat surprisingly based on past history, the Bruins have a decided advantage here, at least while the teams are playing 5 on 5. After finishing dead last in scoring last season, the Bruins rose to fifth this year with 2.98 goals a game. Montreal ranked just 22nd at 2.60. The Bruins had the only 30-goal scorer between the two teams with Milan Lucic and the only 60-point scorers with Lucic and David Krejci, who each finished with 62 points. Boston also had the superior depth and a more balanced attack with 14 players scoring 10 or more goals, compared to nine for the Canadiens.

Montreal does have some dangerous weapons in Tomas Plekanec (22-35-57), Michael Cammalleri (19-28-47), Brian Gionta (29-17-46) and Andrei Kostitsyn (20-25-45) up front, plus some help from the back end with P.K. Subban (14-24-38). But the Bruins have gotten production out of all four lines and both the Lucic-Krejci-Nathan Horton and Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi line have proven capable of carrying the offense for extended stretches this season.

Advantage: Bruins

Defense
The Bruins have a stable top six led by Norris Trophy candidate Zdeno Chara. After plenty of mixing and matching all season long, Boston has seemingly found three solid combinations with Chara paired with Johnny Boychuk, Tomas Kaberle with Dennis Seidenberg and Andrew Ference with Adam McQuaid. Boychuk struggled early but came on strong late in the year, helped no doubt by playing alongside Chara, whose own play spiked after his controversial hit on Montreal's Max Paciorettty. Kaberle can be an adventure in his own zone at times, but he's a helped in the transition game and having a shot-blocking machine like Seidenberg (174 blocked shots) limits the damage he can do in the defensive end. McQuaid struggled a bit late in the season, but has added a needed physical presence and even some offense (3-12-15), while Ference is an underrated steadying force.

The Canadiens have lost Andrei Markov and Josh Gorges for the year with knee injuries, but Jaroslav Spacek did return for the final two games of the regular season after missing 23 games with a knee injury of his own. His return will help, and Subban is an offensive threat who can throw some big hits (just ask Marchand). James Wisniewski and Roman Hamrlik add some additional experience, while former Bruin defenseman Hal Gill has proven effective in a shutdown role. But with veteran journeymen like Paul Mara, Brent Sopel and Alexandre Picard rounding out the blue-line corps, this isn't an especially imposing unit.

Adavantage: Bruins

Goaltending
This is the strength of both teams. Tim Thomas posted a 35-11-9 record with a league-leading 2.00 GAA, an NHL-record .938 save percentage and nine shutouts. He's the prohibitive favorite to win his second Vezina Trophy in the last three years. Montreal's Carey Price could be a finalist as well after going 38-28-6 with a 2.35 GAA, .923 save percentage and eight shutouts.

Thomas has had his struggles against the Habs, though, with a 10-14-4 record, 3.05 GAA and .906 save percentage against the Canadiens in his career. He was actually 2-1-1 against Montreal this year with his first career shutout of the Canadiens, and was 4-0 with 1.50 GAA and .946 save percentage in a first-round sweep of the Habs in 2009. Price is 13-4-2 with a 2.72 GAA and a .915 save percentage against the Bruins in the regular season, but took all four of those losses in that 2009 playoff sweep. He had two shutouts in Montreal's seven-game triumph in 2008, but also allowed five goals in two games that series. Overall, he's 4-7 with a 2.77 GAA and a .907 save percentage against Boston in the postseason.

Advantage: Bruins 

Special teams
The Bruins were first in the league in 5-on-5 scoring with 177 goals. The Canadiens were 26th with 137. But if Montreal can get enough of this series played on special teams, the scales become tipped decidedly in their favor. Montreal was seventh in the NHL this year on both the power play (57-290, 19.7 percent) and the penalty kill (51-327, 84.4 percent). The Bruins were just 20th on the power play (43-265, 16.2 percent) and 16th on the penalty kill (46-265, 82.6 percent). Boston was shorthanded the fourth-fewest times in the league and was tied for fourth with 11 shorthanded goals, while Montreal was shorthanded more times than any other team in the league. The Bruins might not be able to take advantage of that though, as they ranked just 27th in power-play opportunities.

In the six head-to-head matchups, special teams played a huge role. The Habs were 9-of-28 on the power play (32.1 percent), while Boston was just 3-of-24 (12.5 percent). Montreal averaged just 3.53 power-play chances a game over the full season, but that number jumped to 4.67 a game against the Bruins. Boston can't afford to spend that much time in the box in this series.

Advantage: Canadiens

Coaching
Claude Julien has guided the Bruins to the postseason in each of his four seasons behind the Boston bench, and got the team past the first round in back-to-back years for the first time since 1993 and 1994. He's never lead a team beyond the second round, with a 3-4 series record and 21-21 game record in the playoffs, but he's only lost once in the opening round and even then his eighth-seeded Bruins pushed top-seed Montreal to seven games in 2008. Montreal coach Jacques Martin has gotten to a conference final twice, with Ottawa in 2002-03 and Montreal last year. But he's never reached the Cup final and is 7-11 in series and 47-57 in playoff games in 15 seasons with St. Louis, Ottawa, Florida and Montreal, falling five times in the opening round.

Advantage: Bruins

Intangibles
There are a number of additional factors that could sway this series. The Canadiens have an edge in playoff experience, with Cup winners Scott Gomez, Gionta, Travis Moen, Gill and Sopel, plus the nucleus of last year's conference finalist squad. Boston does have two players with rings in Recchi and Shawn Thornton, but they also have Horton, Greg Campbell, Marchand and Tyler Seguin who have never played in an NHL playoff game and Kaberle whose last postseason appearance was back in 2004.

The Bruins do have a decided advantage in size, toughness and grit, and will need to impose their physical style of play on this series. History favors the Habs, though the freshest memories are positive ones for Boston, with the Bruins sweeping the last playoff series two years ago and winning the final meeting this season 7-0. Boston also has an advantage in health, with only Marc Savard, who was never a factor this season, and depth defenseman Steven Kampfer injured going into the series. Montreal is without Markov and Gorges on the blue line and Pacioretty up front.

The Bruins also hold home ice for the series. That hasn't been a huge advantage for them this year, as they were just 14th in the league with a 22-13-6 record at home. But they were 7-1-3 in their last 11 home games and won the last two meetings with the Habs at the Garden. Montreal was far more dependent on home cooking, going 24-11-6 at the Bell Centre (6th best home mark in league) and just 20-19-2 on the road (19th). The Bruins were fifth in the league on the road (24-12-5), but were 0-2-1 at Montreal. Both barns should be loud and hostile with the fervent fan bases of both cities and the bad blood between the clubs, but that intensity could play into the Bruins' hands as Boston usually performs best when emotionally involved.

Advantage: Bruins

Overall
On paper, this should be the Bruins' series. They are the deeper and better team and beat out Montreal for the division title for a reason. But the Habs did win the head-to-head series and past history shows anything can happen when rivals like this clash. The feeling here is the Bruins should prevail, but the longer the series goes, the more likely the Canadiens will spring the upset.

Prediction: Bruins in 5.

The first meeting between the clubs since Zdeno Chara‘s hit on Max Pacioretty and the first clash on Boston ice since the Original Six rivals racked up 182 penalty minutes last month is sure to be a heated encounter. But the NHL wants to make sure it doesn’t get too heated.

Commissioner Gary Bettman reportedly spoke to Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli and Montreal counterpart Pierre Gauthier at last week’s GMs meeting to make sure things didn’t degenerate into too much of a melee in this matchup, and senior vice president and director of officiating Terry Gregson will also be on hand for the game to keep a watchful eye.

While neither team wants to be breaking any new penalty-minute records with the stakes as high as they are in this clash between clubs vying for the Northeast Division crown, the Bruins do have some concerns over how the increased scrutiny could affect their game.

Boston is a team that thrives on physical play and performs at its best when emotionally involved in games.

“I think being physical is part of our game,” said Bruins forward Milan Lucic, who leads Boston with 154 hits and scored his 30th goal in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over New Jersey. “I think our main focus is to build and continue what we did [Tuesday] night, and I think what we did [Tuesday] night was once we started to get harder on the forecheck and once we started to be physical we started to be more successful, and it was against a really stingy team. That’s what Montreal is too. They’ve been a tough team for us to score against.”

But will the officials allow the Bruins to play that physical style, or will veteran referees Dan O’Halloran and Dan O’Rourke call things so tightly that the Bruins can’t establish that sort of game without spending most of the night killing penalties?

“I hope not,” Lucic said. “Physicality is a part of this game. Being able to hit and forecheck and whatnot is a big part of our game and a big part of my game. We’re successful doing that and I don’t think we should shy away from that at all and I don’t think we’re going to.

“We can’t lose that edge,” he added. “Obviously it’s unfortunate that guy got hurt the way he did in a play that happens in hockey and a play we’ve seen so many times before. Obviously we’re happy to hear that he’s making a full recovery, but we can’t lose that edge. We still have to play physical.”

Still, Lucic admitted that he expects the refs to be keeping a tight lid on this one, though that might not prevent some nastiness from breaking out.

“I think they’ll be watching for sure,” Lucic said. “It’s always exciting to see the Bruins and Canadiens play. Look at the last home game we played against them, obviously there was a lot of stuff going on. Who’s to say a lot of the same stuff won’t be going on [Thursday]? I think they’re looking at every game for something to happen. But for ourselves we just have to focus on ourselves and do whatever we need to do to win. They’ve been a tough opponent for us this year. We’re not happy only winning one of the first five games and we want to end this series on a good note.”

Boston has struggled mightily against the Habs this season, going 1-3-1 in the first five meetings. Even that victory raised some concerns, as the Bruins still gave up six goals amid the non-stop parade to the penalty box. So what has made the Canadiens such a tough matchup for the Bruins?

“They play us hard and they have a good system,” Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference said. “They have a lot of quick players and a good goalie. They have the ingredients to be a tough team to play against and they have shown up really well against us.

“I don’t think it’s any big mystery or anything like that,” Ference added. “They’ve just played better than us.”

And what’s the solution to counter that?

“Play as good as you can, put your best product on the ice and see what shakes out,” Ference said. “And you hope that your players and your system when done correctly is better than the other team’s. That’s what it comes down to.”

Boston’s system depends on playing an aggressive style. The Bruins need to stick to that and punish the smaller Habs with clean hits and a physical forecheck. But they also need to be allowed to play that way without fear of the officials taking control of the game.

Despite the bad blood of past encounters, the significance of this game in the division race is likely to put any thoughts of retribution on hold. Hopefully the Bruins and Habs will both be able to play to their strengths within the rules and see which style of play will prevail without undo interference from the refs.

“Everyone talks about revenge and what’s going to happen and the buildup,” Lucic said. “But I’m sure [the Canadiens] are saying the most important thing is for them to get the two points and that’s our focus right now too. They’re right behind us in the standings and that’s the only thing in mind, to create more of a separation between us and them.”

That's become a little more challenging of late. It's not that the stakes have lessened at all between the Northeast Division rivals. In fact, first place will be on the line Saturday night when the Bruins pay a visit to the Bell Centre with just a one-point lead over the second-place Canadiens.

But the lightning rods for Boston fans' animosity in recent years are suddenly gone. Mike Komisarek took the money and ran to Toronto last year after being on the wrong end of one too many Milan Lucic beatdowns, while super-pest Maxim Lapierre was traded to Anaheim on New Year's Eve.

So who should Bruins fans turn their wrath on in 2011? There's no one as easy to detest as Lapierre, who when he wasn't too busy refusing to drop his gloves to answer for one of his cheap shots, could usually be found flopping on the ice trying to draw a call with dives that would make Greg Louganis envious.

But, there are some candidates to watch on Saturday and give a warm welcome to when the Habs next come to the Garden in February.

There's defenseman Hal Gill, a former Bruin and Bay State native who turned his back on his roots by signing with Montreal last summer. It might be hard for Bruins fans to boo him any more than they did when the much-maligned stay-at-home blueliner actually played for Boston though.

There's new Canadien James Wisniewski, whose hand gestures could soon force NHL broadcasts to add a parental warning. But considering those gestures were aimed at Sean Avery, can Bruins fans really hate Wisniewski?

There's flashy rookie P.K. Subban, whose arrogant attitude and chirping on the ice have drawn the ire of many. Flyers captain Mike Richards cryptically warned Subban after a November game that "something might happen to him if he continues to be that cocky." Subban could be a worthy target, but do Bruins fans really want to be just another team hating the brash youngster? And doesn't anybody that gets the Flyers that upset deserve some credit?

Then there's any number of the smurfs up front. Michael Cammalleri got David Krejci upset enough to drop his gloves for his first NHL fighting major during Boston's last visit to Montreal. Andrei Kostitsyn drew Mark Stuart's wrath a few years ago, but hasn't been as aggressive since his brother Sergei was traded to Nashville. And diminutive Habs captain Brian Gionta, all 5-foot-7 of him, has never been shy about getting under the skin of Bruins counterpart Zdeno Chara.

So which current Canadien should Boston fans hate now? Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who's no stranger to drawing the ire of the opposition himself, doesn't see a need to choose.

"All of them," Marchand said when asked who was left to hate on Montreal. "We don't like any of them over there. It's one of those intense ancient rivalries. You want to respect them, but at the same time you just hate them and want to beat them so bad."