BRUINS @ CANADIENS
Pat Hickey counts down five things to watch for at the Bell Centre on Saturday:
1. The matchup
The season is more than half over and this is the first meeting between the Canadiens and Bruins. The teams make up for lost time with three games over an eight-day period. They are in Boston Wednesday and back at the Bell Centre next Saturday. Both teams are coming off a bye week, which means they will be well-rested and/or rusty. The Bruins are second in the Atlantic Division with 53 points and have one regulation loss in their last 15 games (11-1-3). The Canadiens are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games and have 40 points.
2. Going for three in a row
The Canadiens have a modest two- game win streak and it’s safe to say the next week is crucial to the team’s waning playoff hopes. In addition to three games against the Bruins, the Canadiens have a home game Monday against the New York Islanders and travel to Washington Friday. Entering Friday’s games, the Canadiens were eight points out of the final wild-card spot and face an uphill battle because there are five teams between them and the eighth-place Carolina Hurricanes. The Canadiens are seven points behind ninth-place Pittsburgh, six points behind Philadelphia and the Islanders.
3. Offence a concern
The Canadiens rank 29th in the NHL with 2.51 goals a game and there are no signs of improvement. Montreal scored 21 goals in its last 10 games — an average of 2.1 a game — and have been shut out twice. There are a couple of encouraging signs. Max Pacioretty has a goal in each of the past two games after going 13 games without a goal and Alex Galchenyuk has three goals and two assists over nine starts. But Jonathan Drouin continues to struggle with two assists in his last 12 games.
4. The other guys
Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak lead the Bruins with 17 goals each, while Patrice Bergeron is right behind with 16. But those aren’t the most impressive numbers for Boston’s No. 1 line. With perennial Selke Trophy contender Bergeron leading the way, these three have allowed only one even- strength goal. Throw in Zdeno Chara and the solid goaltending of Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin, and you have a defence that has allowed only 2.5 goals a game to rank third in the NHL.
5. A true sellout
The Canadiens boast a sellout streak that goes back to the days following the 1995 lockout, but truth be told, there have been quite a few empty seats this season. That won’t be the case for this game. If fans have to resort to dog sleds, they’ll find their way to the Bell Centre and they’ll be joined by a large contingent of fans from Boston. That’s good news for the folks who run the bars within stumbling distance of the arena and for the ticket resellers who will be hoping to recoup some of their losses.