The Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins share a long established and storied rivalry. One that has spanned through many generations, from star players to controversial calls to heated battles - on and off the ice. They have met in the postseason 34 times, more times than any other matchup in the NHL and as recently as the memorable Canadiens comeback and series win in the 2014 playoffs. However, recently the rivalry just doesn’t feel the same. In the 2014-2015 season the Canadiens swept the regular season series winning all four games, outscoring the Bruins 16-6.
The Bruins no longer really have players that Habs fans love to hate such as Milan Lucic and Shawn Thornton. Captain Zdeno Chara is aging and will not be in the lineup tomorrow night when the two teams face off. The Canadiens have had Tuukka Rask’s number for a number of years now, despite him being among the best goalies in the National Hockey League. With the Winter Classic between the two teams taking place on January 1st, 2016 in Boston, what many fans are truly looking forward to is the Alumni game, rather than the Classic itself. Imagine the possibility of seeing Ray Bourque, Cam Neely and Andy Moog on the ice... It is more exciting to think of the past players than the current. Sure the Bruins still have Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Krejci in the lineup. However, it is not the same feeling as playing the classic ‘Big Bad Bruins’. They just don’t instill the same fear as they used to and the rivalry might continue to suffer because of this.
It could be argued that the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning have replaced the Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs in terms of fresher rivalries, due to the recent playoff battles between the two clubs. The Canadiens and Leafs won’t have a true rivalry again until they finally meet in the playoffs after so many years. That rivalry is more about the cities than the players themselves. If you ask scalpers they will still tell you that the Leafs and Bruins are the Habs biggest rivals, especially when it comes to the resell value of tickets. Sentimentality takes over even though the actual games may not be as exciting. The Bruins lost their season opener to the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 6-2. Boston fans might be in for a long season and for now, the Canadiens will continue to build their rivalries with other teams until the Bruins are able to get healthy and re-establish themselves amongst the NHL leaders.
The Canadiens will fly out to Boston after practice today. The lines appear unchanged at practice with Brian Flynn and newcomer Paul Byron splitting reps on the 4th line. However it appears that Flynn still has the advantage over Byron and should play Saturday night against the Bruins. Many are expecting that Byron will get in his first game on Sunday in Ottawa against the Senators. Byron is a local boy from Ottawa who played his junior career with the Gatineau Olympiques in the QMJHL.
Trios du #CH
Pacioretty-Plekanec-Gallagher
Eller-Galchenyuk-Semin
Fleischmann-DD-Weise
Flynn/Byron-Mitchell-DSP
#Habs
— Jonathan Bernier (@JBernierJDM) October 9, 2015
Duos de défenseurs du #CH:
Markov-Subban
Emelin-Petry
Beaulieu-Gilbert
Tinordi-Pateryn
#Habs
— Jonathan Bernier (@JBernierJDM) October 9, 2015The Canadiens should be able to continue their streak and beat Boston tomorrow night. The Bruins are expected to be without Chara and Dennis Seidenberg on defence although Chara is practising as the 7th defenceman today. If he is still unable to play these would be the Bruins defence pairings:
#Bruins: les duos à la ligne bleue:
Krug-McQuaid
Irwin-Trotman
Morrow-K. Miller
Chara-C. Miller.
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) October 9, 2015The Bruins forward lines look like:
#Bruins: les trios du Boston.
Marchand-Bergeron-Eriksson
Beleskey-Krejci-Pastrnak
Hayes-Spooner-Connolly
Kelly-Kemppainen-Rinaldo (Talbot)
— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) October 9, 20155 Things to look for in the game tomorrow night:
Will the Canadiens score their first powerplay goal of the season? Will Alex Semin get his first point as a Montreal Canadiens? Will Carey Price have to stand on his head and bail out his team again? Will the Canadiens be able to limit the number of shots on Price? Who will have more ice time, David Desharnais or Alex Galchenyuk?
Cheers & Follow Along! Follow @Jenbcutler