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Canadiens vs Bruins game preview & 5 questions |
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The Montreal Canadiens will face the Boston Bruins Saturday night at the TD Garden in a battle for the early Atlantic division lead. At the moment the Canadiens sit first with a 3-0-1record with just a single point more than their rival Bruins and Ottawa Senators. The game should be a big test for the Canadiens to see if they can build off of their near complete effort from their recent 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. It will also be an opportunity for Carey Price to continue to shake off the rust from his flu and regain his World Cup of Hockey form.
Price has always played quite well against his divisional foe, sporting a 22-8-3 record and a 2.37 goals against average. On the flip side, Boston’s Tuukka Rask has traditionally struggled for whatever reason against the Canadiens but he is out day to day and so Anton Khudobin will get the start in net. The Bruins are once again a dangerous team with notorious pest Brad Marchand picking up right where he left off from the World Cup and leading Boston with nine points in four games. Brendan Gallagher and Marchand developed a short term bromance with Team Canada at last Spring’s World Championship but there will not be any love lost between the two as they line up tonight. The Bruins lines should be:
As for the Canadiens, Greg Pateryn will draw back in on defence as Mikhail Sergachev will be a healthy scratch. Head coach Michel Therrien has a history of not setting up his young players for failure by not giving them too much responsibility. This is a positive for Sergachev as the Canadiens are on the road and do not have the last change. The Bruins would easily be able to take advantage of any mismatches with Sergachev on the ice. Not that the rookie would not be up to the task. However, asking him to play against the likes of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Marchand is a little too much with only three NHL games under his belt. Pateryn will be able to jump in seamlessly and play with Emelin on the third defensive unit.
There are no other lineup changes for the Canadiens and so Brian Flynn will remain in the lineup while Daniel Carr continues to sit in the press box.
While the Canadiens and Bruins rivalry is one of the best in sports, it has been somewhat tame in the past few years. Perhaps the additions of Shea Weber and Andrew Shaw will help reignite it with their physical play. Although nothing sparks a rivalry like meeting in the playoffs…
Coincidentally, the clubs AHL minor affiliates played Friday night with the St. John’s Ice Caps defeating the Providence Bruins 4-1. The Ice Caps were led by Charlie Lindgren who had 50 saves in the win. Michael McCarron did not play as he is serving his suspension from headbutting in a fight last weekend. Check out the highlights of the game here:
5 questions for tonight’s game:
1)Will there be any major fights in tonight’s game? If yes, between which players? I’m going with none.
2) Can the Canadiens score a powerplay goal for the fourth consecutive game? The streak gets broken tonight on the road.
3) Alexei Emelin traditionally saves his best for the Bruins. Will he have any bone crunching hits against them tonight? Yes, at least two in my opinion.
4) Which newcomer will have the greatest contribution for the Canadiens tonight? I’m going with Radulov as he, Plekanec and Lehkonen have a breakout game.
5) What will be the final score of the game? 4-3 Canadiens.
Puck drops at 7pm.
Cheers & enjoy the game!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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