Bruins at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens vie for their seventh consecutive regular-season victory over the Boston Bruins when the Original Six rivals meet at the Bell Centre on Saturday night. While Carey Price traditionally has been the one flustering the Bruins during that streak, rookie Mike Condon has more than made the grade lately in place of the injured Hart and Vezina Trophy winner (lower body).
Condon turned aside 17 shots as Montreal improved to 3-0-1 in its last four contests with a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday. The 25-year-old Massachusetts native owns a sparkling 5-0-1 mark with a 1.50 goals-against average and .941 save percentage and will be facing Boston for the first time in his career. Jimmy Hayes scored a power-play goal as the Bruins dropped their second straight contest with a 4-1 setback to Washington on Thursday. Hayes is riding a three-game point streak and has two goals and four assists in his last five contests, but has been held off the scoresheet in each of his nine career meetings with the Canadiens.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, NESN (Boston), RSN, TVA (Montreal)
ABOUT THE BRUINS (6-5-1): Tuukka Rask has struggled to find his form this season with a 3-5-1 mark, a 3.47 goals-against average and .879 save percentage. The 28-year-old Finn might receive the night off on Saturday and get the call Sunday versus the Islanders considering his 3-14-3 mark versus Montreal, as opposed to Jonas Gustavsson's 5-3-1 record against the Canadiens. Rookie defenseman Colin Miller notched an assist versus New York to extend his point streak to five games (one goal, four assists).
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (12-2-1): Lars Eller scored twice in the first meeting between the teams this season and Alex Galchenyuk notched three assists, but both have struggled considerably of late. Eller has been held off the scoresheet in five of Montreal's last six outings while Galchenyuk has just a goal and an assist in that same stretch. While those two are sputtering, red-hot Dale Weise scored in back-to-back contests and has five goals and an assist during his four-game point streak.
OVERTIME
1. Boston C David Krejci has failed to score a goal in 17 consecutive games versus Montreal.
2. The Canadiens have earned points in each of their first seven homes games (6-0-1) for the first time since 1994-95 (5-0-2), according to Elias Sports Bureau.
3. The Bruins have the top-ranked power play (35 percent) and the league-worst penalty kill (70.5 percent).