Ex-Bruin Jay Miller Thinks NHL Missing Out On Old-Time Rivalries

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens have met 936 times in their storied franchise histories, and it is considered one of the greatest rivalries in sports.

The Canadiens own the all-time record over the Bruins at 470-352-103-11 including a 106-71 record in the postseason. But the 1987-88 Bruins defeated the Canadiens in the playoffs for the first time in 45 years.

Bruins enforcer Jay Miller admitted he always loved to play against the Canadiens because of the rivalry and doesn’t understand why the league has shied away from having the clubs face each other more than three times in a season.

“I think the league is missing a big, big thing,” Miller said before the Bruins-Canadiens matchup on Saturday night at TD Garden. “… What I do miss is playing maybe two (home) and two (away) or three and three. Four and four is a little much, but that rivalry … it was exciting. It was just one of those things that you just really got amped up for.”

Miller added: “Everybody wanted to come and watch the Montreal-Boston games. Why? You knew there was going to be scraps.”

The Bruins defeated the Canadiens on Saturday and in true Boston-Montreal fashion, there was one tilt in the game.

Trent Frederic and Josh Anderson dropped the gloves in the second period after a tussle along the endboards that saw Anderson take several liberties against Frederic while he was down on the ice.

Boston owns a 2-0-0 record over Montreal this season. The Bruins will look for the regular season sweep when they travel north of the border to faceoff with the Canadiens on Mar. 14 at the Bell Centre.