NHL: Montreal Travels to Boston to Renew the Habs, Bruins Rivalry

Montreal plays Boston for the 712th and 713th times this week and it never gets old. Frank Doyle on the latest iteration of one of hockey’s most storied rivalries.

There has always been that certain frisson between the Habs and the Bruins. A goalie v goalie fight is a rare event in the NHL but Carey Price and Tim Thomas dropped the gloves and got stuck during a game in Boston back in February. It summed up the rivalry perfectly – nobody gives an inch.

All good clean fun, but things reached a more serious level one month later in Montreal on March 8. The Habs’ Max Pacioretty was smashed into the stanchion between the benches by the Bruins’ Zdeno Chara, a serious bashing that left Pacioretty concussed and the entire city of Montreal fuming with rage and baying for vengeance.

However, when the Habs went to Boston to seek revenge for Pacioretty on March 24, the Bruins crushed them 7-0. Montreal stepped it up when the teams met in the playoffs, but the Bruins went on to win the series and the Stanley’s Cup itself. That’s the nature of the rivalry – it ebbs and flows but there’s always a real edge between the two teams.

And now it’s a new season and time to renew the old war. Both Boston and Montreal have had shaky starts to the season. Montreal’s has been the worse – a six game losing streak made for the Habs worst start to a season since the Second World War.

Someone’s head was always going to roll for that bad start and the man who got the chop was assistant coach Perry Pearn. Pearn was fired a few hours before Montreal played Philly last night and the team got the message, snapping the losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Flyers. This puts them in good shape for the trip to Boston before both teams move back to Montreal on Saturday.

As for the Bruins, they’re ok. The start to the season has been poor, but there’s a certain comfort that struggling teams have when Lord Stanley is on a shelf back in the locker-room. We did it before, we can do it again. It’s no biggie.

Boston is well rested, having last played on Saturday against San Jose. Montreal is up for the game, buzzing with adrenaline and Max Pacioretty is in form, but the Bruins are the Stanley Cup Champions for reason. Boston is a -200 NHL betting favorite on its own ice when Montreal visits Beantown tonight.

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