Canadiens at Bruins
THE STORY: They may be at opposite ends of the Northeast Division, but the standings usually mean very little when the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens meet on the ice. The two Original Six rivals will clash on Thursday in Boston for the fifth time this season. Montreal has outscored Boston 8-7 in the season series, with each team winning twice - including once on the road. All of the games have been one-goal contests, except for one that featured an empty net, two-goal differential. The Bruins are 15-7-1 at home while the Canadiens are 9-11-1 on the road this season.
TV: 7 p.m. ET. NHLN-US (HD), RDS (HD), TSN, NESN (HD)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (16-19-7): Montreal is coming off a 4-0 home loss at the hands of Jaroslav Halak and the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Halak, a former starter in Montreal, made 19 saves. Canadiens netminder Carey Price made 22 saves in the loss, falling to 15-15-7 on the season. Erik Cole has nine goals in his last 14 games. Tomas Plekanec has led the Canadiens in the series with Boston with four points in the first four games. After Thursday's contest, the Canadiens return home for three games including a Saturday tilt with the New York Rangers. Montreal is 3-7-0 in its last 10 games.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (27-11-1): Nathan Horton, Tyler Seguin and Benoit Pouliot scored third-period goals as the Bruins rallied to defeat the visiting Winnipeg Jets 5-3 on Tuesday. Horton and Shawn Thornton scored earlier in the contest for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 24 saves. Boston, which is 8-2-0 in its last 10 games, has no shortage of offensive threats. Horton has five goals in his last four contests, David Krejci has five goals and nine assists during his current nine-game point streak. Seguin has eight points in a five-game streak, while Patrice Bergeron has eight points over his last four contests.
OVERTIME:
1. The Canadiens are dead last in the NHL in power-play percentage at just 12.8 percent.
2. Randy Cunneyworth has stated Peter Budaj will get a start in one of the Canadiens' upcoming games. Budaj has struggled this season with a 1-4-0 record.
3. Reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas is 17-7-0 on the season with four shutouts.