The Boston Bruins have lost three consecutive games, and their road doesn’t get any easier Monday night when they take on the rival Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The Habs have won eight of the last 10 games in this rivalry, and Montreal goalie Carey Price — who’s putting together another Vezina Trophy-caliber season — has a 16-3-1 record with a .940 save percentage in his career versus Boston.
The Bruins must find a way to jumpstart their offense against an elite goalie like Price. They rank 26th in goals scored per game and 27th in power-play percentage. David Pastrnak is the only B’s forward providing consistent scoring production.
Patrice Bergeron, in particular, needs to step up offensively. The veteran center has tallied just eight points (four goals, four assists) through 26 games.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams.
BOSTON BRUINS (15-12-2)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Backes
Tim Schaller–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Ryan Spooner–Austin Czarnik–Jimmy Hayes
Dominic Moore–Riley Nash–Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara–Brando Carlo
Torey Krug–Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller–Colin Miller
Tuukka Rask
MONTREAL CANADIENS (19-6-3)
Max Pacioretty–Tomas Plekanec–Alexander Radulov
Artturi Lehkonen–Philip Danault–Andrew Shaw
Paul Byron–Torrey Mitchell–Brendan Gallagher
Daniel Carr–Brian Flynn–Sven Andrighetto
Alexei Emelin–Shea Weber
Andrei Markov–Jeff Petry
Nathan Beaulieu–Zach Redmond
Carey Price
Thumbnail photo via Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports Images