Despite holding a 12-point advantage over the third place Montreal Canadiens in the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins are not a team that looks comfortable playing against the Habs this year. In two games against Montreal in 2013-14, the Bruins have zero wins and have been outscored 6-2. Dating back to last season, Michel Therrien’s first year back behind the Montreal bench, the B’s have won just one of six against their archrival. It’s just not a great matchup for the Bruins.
Though I suppose the Bruins having trouble with the Canadiens isn’t really groundbreaking news.
Unfortunately for Boston though, it gets worse: Thomas Vanek is now a Hab.
Yeah, that’s the same Vanek that’s terrorized the Bruins, scoring 30 goals and 61 points in 53 career games against Boston. And doesn’t it just seem fitting that Vanek -- the game’s biggest Bruin killer -- enters tonight with zero points, a minus-1, and just four shots in his first two games with Montreal?
Read as: Tonight would be the night for the 30-year-old to go bananas at the Bruins’ expense.
But a Bruins club that’s won five in a row isn’t going down without a fight. Especially tonight, and especially when you consider the importance of this game for the Bruins. Sure, the Bruins are by all means a lock for the Atlantic Division this year barring an unforeseen disaster, but you’d have to think that the road to the Stanley Cup goes through Montreal at some point. Whether it’s in the first round with the Habs as a wild card or perhaps in the second round if the standings stick, I’m not sure, it’s tough to envision a scenario where the Bruins completely avoid Montreal. That’s, you know, kinda why the league was so in favor of this realignment. More rivalry playoff series! More!
A loss tonight would guarantee the Bruins their second straight season series loss to Montreal, with the only remaining head to head between the teams coming to TD Garden in less than two weeks. For a Boston club that prides itself on consistency and correcting its mistakes, that’s an obvious no-go.
Perhaps that’s why the Black-and-Gold are sticking with their new post-deadline lineup, with Andrej Meszaros in the lineup on the club’s top defensive pairing with Zdeno Chara for the second straight contest. The 28-year-old Meszaros struck with a power play goal in his B’s debut, finishing the night with one blocked shot and six shots in 20:36 of ice time.
With Meszaros in, the B’s will scratch second-year pro Dougie Hamilton once again. Not only does Hamilton have seven goals and 18 points in 47 games this season, but he’s been one of the club’s better defensemen this season, especially with Dennis Seidenberg on the shelf. And while I’m all for getting a deeper look at what Meszaros brings to the table, doing it at the expense of NHL games for the 20-year-old Hamilton seems unnecessary. Especially for two games in a row.
The Bruins have 17 games in the month of March. You can sit somebody besides Hamilton. You should somebody besides Hamilton when you think about it, really. Since Day 1 this year, Hamilton has been a player that Claude Julien has relied on to log top-four minutes. And you’re going to take that role away from him as the playoffs begin to creep into the picture? Why?
On another lineup note for the Bruins, forward Danny Paille will sit out tonight’s game as he recovers from an apparent concussion suffered in the first period of Sunday’s win over Florida.
Hammered by Panthers’ captain Ed Jovanovski, Paille took part in the club’s morning skate, but seems like a scratch for the next two games, with Saturday against Carolina looking like a likely return date. Jordan Caron will skate in Paille’s place on Boston’s fourth line.
Just days after his 27th birthday, Tuukka Rask gets the start for Boston.
Rask stopped 17 of 20 in his last start (Sat. night in Tampa Bay), has won three straight, and has posted a 11-7-2 record and .913 save percentage away from the Garden this season. Working against Rask tonight, however, is an absolutely disastrous career line against Montreal. In 14 career starts versus the Canadiens, the Finnish netminder has just two wins and a 2.88 goals against average.
Montreal counters with Peter Budaj. Budaj has four wins and has posted a .919 save percentage in six career games against the Black-and-Gold, but comes into tonight’s game in search of redemption of being yanked in his last outing after allowing two goals on 11 shots against San Jose.
Former Bruin Rich Peverley out for remainder of season
I admittedly wasn’t watching the Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Dallas Stars game on Monday night. I didn’t even know what was happening. I was driving to meet up with some friends when I got a text that said, “Hey, what’s going on with Peverley? This is terrifying.… That was followed by an alert from my NHL GameCenter app that said the teams were sent to the locker room. I was clueless.
Watching the clip of Peverley collapsing on the bench was rough. You saw his former (and current) teammates all over the ice. There was Bruin-turned-Jacket Nathan Horton, a player that Peverley stepped up for in 2011 Stanley Cup Finals after Horton’s series ended with a cheap hit from Aaron Rome, talking with Tyler Seguin. There was Tim Thomas, Peverley’s teammate for two seasons, clearly bowing his head and saying a prayer for “Pevs….
Fortunately, Peverley was able to be stabilized and literally brought back to life.
During his two and a half years in Boston, Peverley established himself as one of Julien's true utility players. He could play all three forward positions, play on the power play, kill penalties. He was the type of player you could probably ask to play goalie if everything else went to hell. An undrafted talent, the 31-year-old got to this level by a hardworking, no nonsense attitude both on and off the ice (He was notoriously tight-lipped during his time with the Bruins), and was only moved out of town simply because of his cap-hit.
Peverley, who was treated for an irregular heartbeat last summer, will have a heart procedure that’ll end his season. Doctors are unsure if Peverley will be able to continue his NHL career or not, but the most important thing is that he's is alive and will be able to live a normal life when this is all said and done.
Here’s to hoping that he’s back to the game at some point.