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  • Game Day Preview: Bruins at Canadiens

    Post Game

    Game Day Preview: Bruins at Canadiens

    Tim Rosenthal January 20, 2018
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    For the third time in eight days, the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens will do battle. This time, the hype takes a back seat.

    After all the storylines surrounding the Bruins’ first two matchups against ex-coach Claude Julien, the Boston-Montreal rivalry can go back to usual business. Lately, that usual business is resulting in the Black and Gold taking complete control of the rivalry.

    The Bruins enter their Saturday night matchup in Montreal having won the last four against Les Habitants. It’s clear that after the first two meetings — and their seasons to date — that the two teams are trending in opposite directions.

    Even with a bounce-back win in Washington Friday night, Julien’s squad sits nine points behind the Rangers and Penguins in the wild card race and a whopping 16 points behind the Black and Gold, who look to extend their point streak to 16 straight games tying a franchise-best set during their Presidents Trophy-winning season in 2014.

    Gametime: 7 p.m.
    TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
    Records: Bruins 26-10-8 (60 points), Canadiens 19-21-6 (44 points)
    Location: Bell Centre

    Bruins projected lines

    Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
    Jake DeBrusk-David Krejci-Ryan Spooner
    Danton Heinen-Riley Nash-David Backes
    Tim Schaller-Sean Kuraly-Noel Acciari

    Zdeno Chara-Charlie McAvoy
    Torey Krug-Brandon Carlo
    Matt Grzelcyk-Adam McQuaid

    Tuukka Rask
    Anton Khudobin

    Canadiens projected lines

    Max Pacioretty-Paul Byron-Charles Hudon
    Artturi Lehkonen-Tomas Plekanec-Brendan Gallagher
    Alex Galchenyuk-Jonathan Drouin-Nicolas Deslauriers
    Jacob de la Rose-Byron Froese-Logan Shaw

    Karl Alzner-Jeff Petry
    Jordie Benn-Jakub Jerabek
    Victor Mete-David Schlemko

    Carey Price
    Antti Niemi

    Bruins-Canadiens storylines

    Adam McQuaid 1-20

    Adam McQuaid is giving the Bruins another solid back-end presence in the absence of Kevan Miller. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

    – Say what you want about Ryan Spooner quietly becoming a reliable goal-scorer, but his play as of late has been anything but quiet. The 2010 second round pick carries a career-long three-game goal streak into Montreal and he has notched four goals in his last five contests. Spooner’s move to wing to make room for David Krejci on the second line is paying off and is allowing him to showcase his speed and skill. He’s been solid on the power play in year’s past but Spooner’s game is getting more well-rounded and gives Bruce Cassidy another reliable secondary scorer.

    – Kevan Miller traveled to Montreal but will miss his third straight game due to illness. A now healthy Adam McQuaid has filled in nicely in the last couple of games. The veteran was active in his return Wednesday night against the Habs. Whether it was pinching to keep the play in the attacking end or giving the Bruins a big momentum boost with Zdeno Chara on the 5-on-3 second-period penalty kill, McQuaid answered the bell in important spots. Sure, Cassidy may have an important decision once Miller returns, but having seven reliable defensemen is a pretty good problem to have especially given McQuaid’s effort in his two games since returning to the lineup.

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    Tim Rosenthal

    Tim Rosenthal serves as the Managing Editor of Bruins Daily. He started contributing videos to the site in 2010 before fully coming on board during the Bruins' Stanley Cup run in 2011. His bylines over the last decade have been featured on Boston.com, FoxSports.com, College Hockey News, Patch and Inside Hockey. You can follow Tim on Twitter @_TimRosenthal.

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