Both teams have some high expectations this year, but few predicted that Boston would be first in their division and second in the conference at any point in the season. Boston finds itself in just that situation, looking down at third-place Montreal.
Montreal shit the bed against the Leafs, but followed up with a season-best effort against the Senators on Tuesday. Price earned a shutout, Higgins had a hat-trick, and Montreal's penalty-kill was solid, and, more importantly, on the ice less much than in recent games. A major concern for the Habs is the play of its first line of Kovalev, Plekanec, and Andrei Kostitsyn. They have been uncharacteristically quiet, and fans are getting impatient.
Boston won in a shootout last night against the Blackhawks, and have now won in four straight games. Marc Savard has been outstanding with 16 points in 15 games. Tim Thomas isn't letting his lack of basic positioning get in the way of earning a stingy .946 save percentage.
Will fatigue play a factor tonight? It may be cliche, but watch for the Habs to sit back and wait until the third to put the pedal down and use their speed against the Bruins. Then again, these things never work out the way you expect. Watch for Boston to storm out of the gates tonight, buoyed by returning fans and adrenaline from their winning streak.
A new year brings new possibilities, and the days of the Habs owning the Bruins are over. Key players from Boston to watch are: Michael Ryder, Milan Lucic (Mike Komisarek's Secret Santa this year, for sure), and Savard.
The ship wasn't exactly knocked down, but it sure was listing until Tuesday's shutout against the Senators. The Habs have gotten by with some weak efforts so far, and need to start playing better. Key players tonight will be Mike Komisarek, Guillaume Latendresse (turning into a true power forward?), and Carey Price (We've seen how he responds to a 6-3 drubbing; how does he do following a shutout?).
Bottom line: two teams at the height of their game are meeting tonight, and it should be a good one.
1 comment:
I would not be surprised to see Manny Fernandez get the start tonight after Thomas hasn't had a day off in a while and the B's playing in back to back nights. With that being said it will be interesting to see which team responds better to playing back to back nights.
On a side note I am extremely excided to see the plethora of young talent on my team and coming up from Providence. I love the addition of Blake Wheeler to the mix and Phil Kessel is starting to become the player he was projected to be.
Post a Comment