After having their seven-game winning streak snapped by the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, the Boston Bruins will be looking to start a new streak on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
Boston, Montreal, and Ottawa are all tied on top of the Atlantic Division standings with 22 points. If you thought that the Bruins had it rough against the Senators, the Canadiens had it much worse against the Dallas Stars. Montreal was blown out, 7-0, for its second straight loss. They lost their previous game to the Los Angeles Kings, 5-1, also at home. They've been outscored 12-1 over the last six periods at home. The Bruins better be ready to go at the drop of the puck.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm doesn't care about the standings
Following a practice on Friday in Montreal ahead of Saturday night's matchup, Marco Sturm didn't really care that the winner of Saturday night's game would be ahead of the loser in the standings.
“Me personally, I never look at that, I never really do,” Sturm said. “We had a tough one (Thursday) night, so we want to get back on track and have a really good game and a really good road trip, going home .500. That for me is the biggest thing. The standings, maybe end of the season. But that’s about it.”
He can say that, but you know he's taking a peek once and a while at the standings. Regardless, this is an early-season game with some big implications. We are less than two weeks until the American Thanksgiving holiday, and by now, you know that the NHL standings are one of the major points of reference as to where teams stand when it comes to the playoffs. For the Bruins, this is a big game because of their upcoming schedule.
After Montreal, they come home to play the Carolina Hurricanes before heading for a four-game road trip that goes out to California and ends with a stop on Long Island to play the New York Islanders. That won't be easy, which makes getting some points on Saturday night vital.