The Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens meet in NHL action from the Bell Centre on Monday night.
The Boston Bruins come into this game looking to build on a 4-2 win over Winnipeg last time out. David Pastrnak leads the Bruins in scoring with 61 points while Brad Marchand is right behind with 60 points, with Marchand logging 25 goals and a team-high 35 assists while Pastrnak has a team-high 33 goals and 28 assists and Patrice Bergeron has 45 points with 17 goals and 28 assists as well. Taylor Hall and Charlie McAvoy have a combined 64 assists while Matt Grzelcyk’s posting a team-high +15 plus/minus rating as well this season. Linus Ullmark’s posted an 19-9-2 mark with a 2.72 GAA and a .909 save percentage between the pipes for the Bruins while Jeremy Swayman is 17-8-3 with a 2.10 GAA and a .925 save percentage this season.
The Montreal Canadiens will look to build on their 5-1 win over Ottawa last time out. Nick Suzuki leads the Habs in scoring with 46 points including 17 goals and 29 assists and Josh Anderson’s posted 15 goals this season. Jake Allen has seen the majority of the action in goal for Montreal, going 6-16-3 with a 3.09 GAA and a .903 save percentage this season white Sam Montembault has gone 7-13-5 with a 3.71 GAA and an .894 save percentage and Cayden Primeau is 1-7-1 with a 4.88 GAA and an .866 save percentage this season.
Boston is 6-0 in their last 6 games against the Atlantic division and 8-2 in their last 10 road games while the under is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games following a win. Montreal is 18-49 in their last 67 games overall and 5-13 in their last 18 games following a win while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games following a win.
I get the case to be made for Montreal as the Canadiens have provided value in certain spots as of late. However, the Boston Bruins are the better team with something besides pride to play for in this game and the Bruins have had a lot of success against Montreal, winning 13 of the last 16 meetings including the two meetings this season by a combined score of 10-3. Give me Boston in regulation in this one.