Canadiens at Bruins
The Boston Bruins are perfect at home this season and will look to keep that streak intact when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night in the latest matchup between the longstanding bitter rivals. Boston has dominated the Original Six rivalry of late, sweeping the series last season to make it six straight wins over the Canadiens.
Former Bruins coach Claude Julien brings Montreal to Boston off a 4-3 loss at Buffalo on Thursday in which the Canadiens were unable to protect three separate one-goal leads. “We’re still a young team trying to get better,” Julien said Friday. "At the end of the day, it’s about trying to win a hockey game tomorrow. This is an important road trip for us and we let two points slip away yesterday." Boston blanked visiting Philadelphia 3-0 on Thursday behind a shutout by backup netminder Jaroslav Halak, but Tuukka Rask will be in goal as the Bruins and Canadiens renew acquaintances. "It's always a special rivalry," Boston center Patrice Bergeron said. "We know the atmosphere will be electric, as it always is in the building, and it will be a lot of fun."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, Sportsnet-1, CITY, TVAS (Montreal), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (5-2-2): Goaltender Carey Price has a chance to reach a major milestone, needing one victory to move past Hall of Famer Patrick Roy (289) for the second-most wins in franchise history. Julien told reporters Friday that he will probably make changes to his lineup and one of them will be to dress forward Charles Hudon, who has been a healthy scratch over the past three games. Max Domi scored twice in the loss to Buffalo to give him four goals in four games and extend his point streak to five contests.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (6-2-2): Boston is short along the blue line with Charlie McAvoy and Kevan Miller sidelined, but there is a possibility that defenseman Torey Krug makes his season debut Saturday. "He's very close. There's a chance he could play tomorrow," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of Krug. "We don't want to put ourselves in a position where we rush it and there's another setback. It's too early in the year." The potent No. 1 line was blanked Thursday but David Pastrnak had three goals versus Montreal last season.
OVERTIME
1. Rask allowed five goals in winning all three starts against the Canadiens in 2017-18.
2. Price was 0-2-1 with a 2.94 goals-against average in three starts versus Boston last season.
3. Bergeron, who has a team-best 16 points, has three assists in his last seven games versus Montreal.