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Preview: Bruins head to Montreal for a post-deadline tussle with the Canadiens

Oh, a hockey game.

By Dan.Ryan
/ new
Boston Bruins v Montreal Canadiens Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images

Just the facts

When: Tonight, 7 PM

Where: Bell Centre - Montreal, QC

How to follow: NHL Network, NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SBN site: Habs Eyes on the Prize

Know your enemy

  • 27-36-9, 43 points, last in the Atlantic Division
  • Nick Suzuki: 17G-29A-46PTS; Cole Caulfield: 13G-17A-30PTS; Artturi Lehkonen: 13G-16A-29PTS
  • Sam Montembeault: 7-13-5, 3.71 GAA, .894 save percentage

Game notes

  • Oh, there’s an actual Bruins hockey game tonight! It almost got lost in the deadline shuffle. Forgive me if any of the players mentioned here are not here by the time you read this, as I’m putting this preview together Sunday evening. Gotta get ahead while you can!
  • The cellar-dwelling Canadiens are coming off of a stretch of three points out of four, losing to Dallas in OT and beating Ottawa 5-1 in their last outing.
  • This is the Bruins’ first visit to Montreal this season, as the two teams’ prior meetings were both in Boston. The Bruins won both of those meetings (in November and in January), outscoring Montreal by a 10-3 margin.
  • The Canadiens’ run to the Cup Final last year was viewed as flukey by most people, and it’s easy to say their results this season prove that point. However, it’s hard to overstate how big of a loss Carey Price (and Shea Weber, to a lesser extent) has been. Price has been reliably good in Montreal for more than a decade, and his replacements this year are both sporting GAA’s over 3 and save percentages hovering at or below .900. Defense certainly has a lot to do with it, but the Habs aren’t the worst team in the NHL if Price is around.
  • Hampus Lindholm won’t play tonight, and will instead make his Bruins debut at home on Thursday.
  • Patrice Bergeron won’t play tonight. Hopefully he’s ready to go Thursday.
  • Marc McLaughlin was recalled from Providence on an emergency basis on Sunday; it’s not clear as of Sunday evening whether or not he’ll make his NHL debut, but there are few cooler settings for an NHL debut than Bruins vs. Canadiens in Montreal.

See ya tonight!

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