The Bruins, fresh off probably one of their biggest and most complete wins of the season, took to the ice at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Friday in preparation for an even bigger game with their longtime rivals on Saturday night.
The Bruins trail the Canadiens by two points in the Northeast Division and Eastern Conference standings. With a win on Saturday, they could jump into a tie with Montreal for the seventh slot in the conference playoff seeding.
"We're psyched for this game because we know it's a four-point swing," Mark Recchi told NESN.com after practice. "That, combined with playing Montreal, at the Bell Centre … if you can't get up for this one, you don't belong in this league."
Recchi, Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm are one of the hottest lines in the NHL right now, and the timing couldn't be any better, with the news that Marc Savard may be out for the season. The Sturm-Bergeron-Recchi line accounted for six points in the 5-1 win at Philadelphia and have combined for 13 points in the last two games.
The trio has always had chemistry, but Recchi believes their latest surge is a result of a team-wide emphasis on the forecheck over the last few games.
"We really switched it up and have been attacking more with an emphasis on the forecheck," Recchi explained. "We had kind of been sitting back too much I think, and now we're playing off our speed and aggressiveness."
As for the constant controversy around the Cooke hit on Savard, the league not acting to suspend him and the possibility for retribution next Thursday when the Penguins come to town?
"Oh don't worry. That's in the back of our minds, but that can be addressed next week because right now, we have a big one here," Recchi said.
Recchi also wondered if the player were Sidney Crosby sitting at home with a concussion and not Savard, "Would the guy that hit him be playing right now?"
Miroslav Satan, who missed Thursday's win over the Flyers with a groin injury, skated on Friday, but his status is unknown.
