Boston Bruins Causeway gameday! First dance with Julien

After what seemed like an eternity, Boston Bruins hockey is back!  And what better way to celebrate the end of the NHL mandated bye week than a date with an arch rival.

Rejoice Boston Bruins fans, the NHL bye week is over, and Bruins hockey is back!  It’s been five full days since the Bruins have hit the ice for a game.  While I applaud the NHL’s effort to give teams a break throughout the season and give players a respite, it is a painful exercise for fans.

For those who have short memories, or people who just became Bruins fans in the five day layoff, the team is coming off a frustrating 6-5 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Tuukka Rask was off his game, and the team’s effort seemed lackluster for stretches.

The one takeaway is that the team showed they’ve learned how to battle when things are going rough, as opposed to rolling over.  The team went down 3-1 after the first, but outscored the Pens 4-1 in the second.  Long story short, they got a point, and we move on to the back half of the season.

Tonight’s game is the first game this season between the Bruins (23-10-7, 53 points) and the rival Montreal Canadiens (18-20-4).  It only took 40 games, but finally, the best rivalry in all of hockey will be reignited.  The Bruins are a team on the rise, at 17-3-3 in their last 23 games.  Montreal has been a streaky team all season.  Montreal has three separate five game losing streaks this season.  The Bruins hope to start another one for them tonight.

There is a little more intrigue to this matchup.  This is the first time that the Bruins will travel to Montreal to take on their former bench boss, Claude Julien, after he was fired as Bruins coach this February.  Also, the Bruins play Montreal two more times in the next week after this game, making for a mini three game series of sorts.

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• Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
• Bruins release full “Historic 100” list ahead of season
• McAvoy, Lucic named to “Historic 100” list over the weekend

Schedule

The game tonight at the Bell Centre is slated for a 7:00 pm puck drop, about an hour and a half before the Patriots kick-off their playoff game.  The game can be viewed on NESN and listened to on 98.5 The Sports Hub.

What to watch for

The team should be very well rested after the five day layoff.  Some of the players took a little trip down south to enjoy the nice weather in Miami.  One would imagine that the rest would mean that Adam McQuaid would be ready for game action.  But here are the practice lines as of yesterday:

McQuaid has been out since he broke his leg midway through October, with an eight week timetable for return.  We have now blown passed that eight weeks, and McQuaid has still yet to see game action.

The problem, for McQuaid at least?  Matt Grzelcyk has done an amazing job filling in for Darth Quaider, and has fit seamlessly into the lineup.  In 22 games this season, Grzelcyk has five points (1-4–5), and an impressive +13 rating.  When will we see McQuaid back in the lineup?  Who knows at this point.  We may have a Drew Bledsoe-Tom Brady situation here.

Next: Bruins 3 stars from first half

With rest and relaxation comes the risk that any momentum the team had gathered could dissipate.  The Bruins third line of Danton Heinen-Riley Nash-David Backes was on a tear recently.  If that chemistry can continue into and through the second half of the season, the Bruins could arguably have the best depth scoring in the NHL.