The Bruins welcome in their archrivals, the Montreal Canadiens, as they try to snap an eight-game (0-6-2) winless streak and win their first game on home ice since the Winter Classic and their first win at the TD Garden since Dec. 30.
The Canadiens meanwhile, are coming off a big 3-2 win over the Canucks and are 3-3-2 in their last eight games.
When And Where
Thursday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m. (NESN)
TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Records
Bruins (23-22-9, 54 points, fourth place in Northeast Division, 12th place in Eastern Conference)
Canadiens (26-25-6, 58 points, third place in Northeast Division, seventh place in Eastern Conference)
Head to Head
This is the third of six meetings between the Habs and Bruins and the first of two in the next three games, as the Bruins will play a 3 p.m. Super Bowl Sunday matinee at the Bell Centre. The two teams will meet again at the Garden on March 2 and then March 13 in Montreal.
Montreal leads the season series 2-0-0 and won the last game decisively in a 5-1 rout of the Bruins on Dec. 4. The Habs lead the all-time series 163-131-56-2.
Skinny
The Bruins remain the lowest-scoring team in the league, averaging only 2.32 goals a game. They outshot the Capitals 42-26 on Tuesday but still lost 4-1. The players are trying everything from shooting more to being patient, but nothing seems to work. Following their loss to Washington, center Marc Savard questioned whether they should take a page from Major League:
"Maybe we gotta sacrifice a chicken or a rooster or something like that to try to change our luck," he said. "It's not like guys don't want to score on this team. Guys want to put the puck in the net."
Projected Lineups
Bruins
Forwards
Milan Lucic–Marc Savard–Miroslav Satan
Marco Sturm–Patrice Bergeron–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille–Steve Begin–Shawn Thornton
Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick–Dennis Wideman
Johnny Boychuk–Adam McQuaid
Goaltenders
Tuukka Rask
Tim Thomas
Canadiens
Forwards
Ben Maxwell–Scott Gomez–Brian Gionta
Sergei Kostitsyn–Tomas Plekanec–Benoit Pouliot
Marc-Andre Bergeron–Maxim Lapierre–Mathieu Darche
Matt D'Agostini–Glen Metropolit–Travis Moen
Defensemen
Andrei Markov–Josh Gorges
Ryan O'Byrne–Hal Gill
Roman Hamrlik–Jaroslav Spacek
Goaltenders
Carey Price
Jaroslav Halak
Goaltender Matchup
Bruins
Tim Thomas is 13-15-7 with a 2.52 GAA and .915 save percentage. Thomas has four shutouts. Thomas has not won since Jan. 14 and is 0-4-2 over his last six games.
Tuukka Rask is 10-7-2 with a 2.13 GAA, .925 save percentage. He is third in the NHL in GAA and has two shutouts.
Canadiens
Carey Price is 11-17-4 with a 2.73 GAA and .913 save percentage. Price has not won in his last three starts, going 0-2-1. He is 2-0-0 against the Bruins this season, making 37 saves in a 5-1 win on Dec. 4 and 42 saves in a 2-1 shootout win on Nov. 5.
Jaroslav Halak is 15-8-2 with a 2.43 GAA and .929 save percentage. Halak has three shutouts. He made 45 saves in the Habs’ 3-2 win over the Canucks Tuesday.
Stat Sheet
Bruins
Patrice Bergeron leads the team in points (12 goals, 21 assists) with 33.
Marc Savard notched his third assist in as many games Tuesday and has three points in his first three games back from a partially torn MCL. He now has 16 helpers and 25 points this season.
David Krejci scored a power-play goal Tuesday and now has 10 goals and 29 points.
Dennis Wideman had an assist Tuesday and now has 13 helpers and 16 points.
Zdeno Chara leads the team in assists with 25.
The Bruins killed off all four Washington power plays Tuesday. They have now allowed 26 goals on 195 power plays against. The Bruins’ penalty kill is ranked third in the NHL with an 86.7 percent success rate.
The Bruins were 1-for-6 on the power play Tuesday and are 4-for-30 in their last 11 games. They’re 32-for-181 overall with a 17.7 percent success rate.
Canadiens
Tomas Plekanec scored the game-winning goal Tuesday and has three points in his last two games. Plekanec leads the Habs in assists with 41 and points with 55.
Benoit Pouliot had two helpers Tuesday and has three points in his last two games. Pouliot has 13 goals and 18 points this season.
Sergei Kostitsyn had a goal and assist Tuesday and has six points in 24 games.
Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the Habs blue line with 28 points and six power-play goals.
The Habs have the second-best power play in the NHL. They were 0-for-3 Tuesday but are 43-for-171 with a 25.2 percent success rate.
The Canadiens allowed two power-play goals on five Vancouver power plays Tuesday. They have allowed 38 power-play goals on 230 attempts with an 83.5 percent success rate.
Black and Blue
Bruins
Andrew Ference has been practicing with the team all week but there is no word on if he could be back earlier than expected, which would be after the Olympics.
Defenseman Mark Stuart had successful surgery on a broken finger and he will be out until after the Olympics.
Zdeno Chara admitted he has been playing with a dislocated finger since Nov. 20.
Canadiens
Michael Cammalleri suffered an injury to his right knee in the Ottawa game on Jan. 30. He won't require surgery but he will be out of the lineup for six weeks.
Jaroslav Spacek missed the Jan. 27 game in Tampa with the flu and he has been out of the lineup since then with an upper-body injury. He will play Thursday.
Paul Mara left the Jan. 22 game in New Jersey with an upper-body injury and he has now missed five games.
Andrei Kostitsyn left the Dec. 31 game in Florida with a lower-body injury from a check. He underwent surgery on Jan. 8 and is out indefinitely.
This Date in Bruins History
On Feb. 4, 1988 Cam Neely scores a hat trick and picks up an assist in a 7-3 win over Montreal.
Overheard
"Those same things that we have been doing last year and the year before gave us some success. We haven't really changed anything; the results are changing right now, and we gotta find a way to change the results, not change our game."
–Claude Julien, after the Bruins were stonewalled by Jose Theodore on Tuesday night
Press Box
Bruins
What do the Bruins need to do to get Ilya Kovalchuk?
Is Michael Ryder on the trading block?
Kathryn Tappen doesn’t see this slump ending without the Bruins getting a goal scorer.
Canadiens
Ryan O’Byrne is making the best of a good opportunity.
The Habs beat the Canucks despite being outshot 47-28.
Check out Habsinsideout.com for all your Habs news.
NHL
Ilya Kovalchuk could have a new home soon
The Blue Jackets fired Ken Hitchcock.
Here are some important trade freeze and deadline notes.
Outlook
The Bruins are desperately searching for answers and frustration is boiling over. But a matchup with their bitter rivals who whipped them 5-1 in their last meeting may be just what the doctor ordered. The Bruins have always fed off emotion and physicality, and this rivalry tends to bring that out in both teams.
The Bruins need to bottle that emotion up with their frustration and just let it out on the Habs. It’s time for this Bruins squad to crank it up and play some physical hockey.
