Posted on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011 by Austin Macleod
One of the most anticipated hockey games of the year takes place tonight in Boston when the Bruins host their arch rival Montreal Canadiens. This is the first meeting since the controversial hit of Boston’s Zdeno Chara on Max Pacioretty.
Boston is the big favorite in this matchup – but watch for a motivated Montreal team. RDS in Canada will have the coverage beginning at 7 pm ET.
This has been one of the best rivalries for decades and it’s no different this year with only three points separating them for first place in the Northeast Division.
Boston (40-22-10, 90 points) has played two fewer games than Montreal (40-27-7, 87 points). The division winner should get the third seed in the Eastern Conference, while the loser could fall to six. That means they could open against each other in the playoffs.
Chara slammed Pacioretty into the turnbuckle the last time they met on March 8. Pacioretty is now out until at least the playoffs. Montreal ended up winning 4-1 at home, but their fans are still enraged by the hit and even Air Canada threatened to pull league sponsorship.
Despite the hit, Boston still wants to play physical tonight. The teams had 182 penalty minutes the last time they met in Boston (8-6 Bruins win). That’s not how the faster and more skilled Canadiens want to play.
Boston is 1-3-1 against Montreal this year, with the Canadiens really in their head since the start of last year.
Tim Thomas (30-10-8, 2.06 GAA) is expected in net tonight for Boston, while it will be Carey Price (34-25-6, 2.35 GAA) for Montreal. Thomas hasn’t been as sharp lately, but he did play well in the 4-1 home win over New Jersey on Tuesday
Boston is just 2-3-3 in its last eight games. Montreal is 3-4 in its last seven, losing 2-0 at home to Buffalo on Tuesday.
Commissioner Gary Bettman has talked to respective GM’s Peter Chiarelli and Pierre Gauthier as the league wants to make sure tonight’s game doesn’t get out hand.
Look for the referees to call things closely and even for the players themselves to be a bit more cautious on the rough stuff. Montreal is the better value here as the solid underdog given their success against Boston, but the best play is a higher scoring game than anticipated.
In this game, I’m expecting a lot of goals. Watch the total climb from the opening period.
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Tags: Bruins Host, Canadiens
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