Bruins vs. Canadiens Preview: No 17 minute penalties please

Just the Facts

Game Time: 7:30 PM, TD Garden, Boston, MA. TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), TSN, RDS. Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Records: Bruins (21-7-3, 45 points, second in the East YEAHH SUCK IT) vs. Canadiens (20-7-5, 45 points, fourth in the East)

The Other Side's SB Nation Site: Habs Eyes on the Prize

Get Tickets here: Boston Bruins Tickets

Canadiens projected lines:

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Gallagher
Armstrong - Galchenyuk - Eller
Ryder - Plekanec - Gionta
Moen - Dumont - Blunden

Gorges - Subban
Emelin - Markov
Tinordi - Boullion

Price

Bruins projected lines:

Marchand - Krejci - Horton
Paille - Bergeron - Seguin
Lucic - Peverley - Caron
Pandolfo - Campbell - Thornton

Chara - Hamilton
Seidenberg - Bartkowski
Ference - Johnson

Rask

Preview:

The last time these two teams met, it got really, really ugly. Like, 17 minutes of penalties for Zdeno Chara and the Habs scoring the game winning goal while Chara was out of the game ugly. We really, really do not need that to happen again tonight. First place is on the line, and any distance the Bruins can put between themselves and the Habs in that respect would be advantageous.

The Bruins' lines could look like the left-wing-shuffle lines they had the other day, or they could be back to normal - the team finished the game in their usual positions against Toronto the other night. Whatever the case, going forward after tonight, the goal should be to make a trade that gets Pandolfo back in the press box, because seriously.

If the team comes out firing the way they did against Toronto on Monday, things should be OK. A spat of terrible puck luck recently should even out (I mean, look at this fenwick timeline, goddamn. They sure do fire enough shots on goal) - and the perfect time to do that would be tonight.

On the other end of the ice, the Canadiens have been suffering the same sort of struggles recently - an inability to find the back of the net, as evidenced last night against Pittsburgh. Again, their ability to get pucks TO the net isn't in question - it's just getting them past the goaltender that seems to be the problem.

Puck drops at 7:30. Which team can solve their scoring woes first will earn first place in the Northeast. Let's go.

Never Forget:

KREJCI IS A THUG