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You can throw everything out the window when the Boston Bruins take to the Bell Centre.
It doesn’t matter if the Bruins have won six of their last eight games. Or that Zdeno Chara (knee) and David Krejci (undisclosed) are out of commission. It’s Bruins-Canadiens at the Bell Centre, and that’s typically an absolute nightmare for the Black and Gold. Dating back to the start of the lockout-shortened 2013 season, the Bruins have lost seven of eight regular season contests against the Michel Therrien coached Canadiens. Add last year’s second-round playoff series into the mix and the Bruins have won just four of their last 15 games against Montreal. My, how the rivalry has flipped once again.
But the Bruins don’t just lose to the Canadiens. They absolutely implode. The latest example of that came in the Bruins’ last trip to Montreal, back on Oct. 16, when Milan Lucic took a late game penalty that wiped out the B’s chances of a comeback. Enraged with the call, Lucic mouthed off all the way to the box, made a ‘lewd gesture’, and raised an invisible Cup at the horde of Montreal fans taunting him. (They were actually straight-up laughing at the 6-foot-4 winger, no less, and that’s telling in and of itself.)
The image was a microcosm of the recent history between these two teams. The Canadiens, while not as big or as strong as the Black and Gold, know exactly which buttons to press to make them self-destruct.
They know how to straight-up embarrass the Bruins. But the good news (if you wanna call it that) is that I’m not sure that it can get more embarrassing for the Bruins than it did last night at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, as they were beat to every single punch and puck pursuit in a 6-1 loss to the Maple Leafs.
Their defense (specifically their bottom two pairings) was victimized by a faster Maple Leaf attack, led by Phil Kessel’s two goals. Their forwards struggled to generate any sort of momentum in the attacking zone. (You know it’s a tough night when Seth Griffith and Gregory Campbell stick out as two of your best forwards.) And their goaltending didn’t come up with the big saves they needed, with Rask taking the loss and an early exit after surrendering four goals on 16 shots in just over 23 minutes of play.
So, I mean, can it really get much worse?
Back in Montreal for the second of four meetings with Montreal this year (and with all four being on the second leg of a back-to-back for the Bruins, ‘cause that makes sense in a new format that puts a major emphasis on playing well against your divisional foes), the biggest question facing the Bruins really comes back to who gets the nod in the crease as the sacrificial lamb behind this road-afraid Boston defense.
The 27-year-old Rask struggled last night, no doubt, but the thought of finding redemption against Montreal seems like a tougher task than it’d be against, say, oh I don’t know, anybody else. In 18 career games against the Habs, Rask has just three wins and a .902 save percentage. He was even pulled from his last start against the Canadiens after surrendering five goals on just 23 shots against. On top of these less-than-promising career figures against Montreal, Rask is 0-2-0 with an .851 save percentage on zero days rest this season.
The other problem: His backup and reliever in last night’s drubbing, Niklas Svedberg, didn’t necessarily perform much better. Finishing the night with 15 saves on 17 shots, Svedberg’s outing wasn’t the kind that makes you stop everything and say that he’s your guy tonight. And while Svedberg comes into tonight’s game with a strong .933 on the year, his two road wins did come against Buffalo.
No matter the goaltender, though, the Bruins are in for a tough one against a Montreal team that’s won six of eight at home. Especially if their 12-man forward unit puts forth another no-show. Without Krejci, the Bruins are an undeniable offensive mess. Chris Kelly, while an adequate plug-in here and there, is not a player you want centering Lucic and Seth Griffith on a potentially long-term basis. And that’s in all likelihood while you saw the Bruins recall Alexander Khokhlachev from Providence on an emergency basis. Khokhlachev -- or perhaps better known as ‘Koko’ -- played centered throughout his training camp stint with the B’s, and comes into the NHL with five goals (tops among P-Bruins) and 11 points (second among P-Bruins) in 12 games in the American Hockey League this season.
Khokhlachev, drafted by the Bruins with the 40th overall pick in 2011, made his NHL debut on Apr. 13, 2014, logging 15:14 (22 shifts) and recording two shots against New Jersey.
Plugging Khokhlachev into the middle of that first line would allow Kelly to return down to the third line with Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson, and would take one of Matt Fraser or Simon Gagne out of the lineup (which wouldn’t be a bad thing given these players’ hit-or-completely-totally-miss impacts on a nightly basis).
At the very worst, too, you could swap Kelly back up to the first line if Khokhlachev struggles to make an impact. But given Khokhlachev’s skill set, based a lot on speed and creativity, and this match up, I think there’s certainly a chance that he steps in seamlessly.
There's also a chance that the 21-year-old Russian prospect steps in for the potentially injured Carl Soderberg. The word around the team is that the big-bodied Swede is battling some sort of injury -- and after taking just five shifts in the second period (but returning to normalcy in the third) and winning just one of eight faceoffs last night -- that's not hard to buy.
However, if there’s one thing you need above all else, it’s Lucic proving that he can play without an elite playmaker. No matter the situation or who sits, I think you gotta see if Khokhlachev can deliver that spark, ‘cause it’s obvious that Kelly can’t do it for No. 17.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com