Just Call the Canadiens the Bruins’ ‘Daddy’ Already

It’s not even December, and yet Bruins fans have already had to endure this:

And this.

And this (For life!)

And this.

With and without injured defenseman Zdeno Chara, whether Tuukka Rask or Niklas Svedberg is in net, it really hasn’t mattered for the Bruins this season when taking on the Montreal Canadiens, who are not only 2-0 against their longtime foes, but an ugly 2-0, whitewashing the Black and Gold to the tune of an 11-5 aggregate score over a pair of nights in Montreal’s Centre Bell.

Now, for the third time in 22 games, here come the Habs once again, this time in Boston.

For the third time in a row, these two teams will meet on the back end of a back-to-back series for Boston, with the Bruins just having returned from their haphazard, yet satisfying shootout win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus Friday night.

“A good comeback win, knowing you’re down 2-0 going into the third,” head coach Claude Julien said. “It was a good sign from our hockey club.”

It’s a much better sign than the one they delivered last week. Since losing back-to-back nights in Toronto and Montreal to the tune of 11-2, the Bruins have won three straight games over Carolina, a very good Blues team, and the Blue Jackets. Friday’s win came in spite of another absence of David Krejci, who was scratched and in doubt for Saturday’s game, a lingering injury concern that threatens to impact the Bruins for the long-term.

“It’s not about giving him more rest, necessarily,” Julien said. “It’s just an issue where right now, as we speak, it’s a little bit dicey. We’re not machines. We’re humans. Every once in a while, you get David feeling 100 percent. Next day, not so much. Early in the season, we’ve got to manage that properly here. We know at some point, it’s going to be 100 percent. It’s not something that’s going to be lingering forever here.”

Meanwhile, the Canadiens were either perusing the establishments on Canal St. or snug in their Boston hotel beds while the Bruins were in the air, en route to the Hub, desperately wanting to snap a four-game losing streak to Montreal, dating back to last spring’s playoff defeat.

The Canadiens arrive with a 15-5-1 record, having just ousted the St. Louis Blues Thursday night, the same sizzling-hot Blues team against which the Bruins earned a 2-0 victory on Tuesday evening in Boston. They lead the Eastern Conference with 31 points; the Bruins lingering five points behind with the likes of the Red Wings, Lightning, Penguins, and…yes, Islanders.

Hall Pass Max Pacioretty is soaring against the Bruins this season, netting three of his eight goals and two of his eight assists against Boston. Carey Price is 2-0 with a .902 save percentage. Dale Weise has a goal and an assist while Milan Lucic is a minus-1. So, who exactly is $%&*# killing whom?

Whatever it is that infects the Bruins’ minds at the very sight of the Montreal Canadiens, they’d better figure it out at some point. The Habs are now 9-4 against their rivals since the start of the 2013-14 season, a campaign which saw Tuukka Rask earn his third regular season win against Montreal.

Third.

To put that into some context, Rask had three wins against the Flyers, Rangers, and Panthers last season alone; four wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

But head coach Claude Julien is giving him another shot at it on Saturday after the Svedberg Experiment exploded like a gag cigar nine days ago north of the border. Rask is 3-11-3 with a 2.80 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage lifetime against the Canadiens, but the fact that he didn’t play the night after being pulled in Toronto, sparked a backlash in Boston, where he and the Bruins were roundly criticized for playing chicken with their $7 million goalie.

Mon dieu.

“It’s still fairly early in the season and I’m going to get my chances to improve my record against them,” Rask said after the Canadiens trounced the Bruins, 5-1 on Nov. 13. “Everybody talks about Montreal, it’s a big game. We just try to take it as a regular game and we try to play our game. It’s not a big deal for me that I didn’t play. I know I’m going to get a bounce back game tomorrow.”

Indeed, Rask has only allowed one goal since, against the Hurricanes last Saturday. He came up with his best performance of the season in a shutout the Blues, and watched Svedberg stand tall after a shaky start in Columbus. But these Montreal games are clearly becoming defining moments for Rask, just as they are emerging that way for his teammates. At what point do you simply throw up your hands in Pedro Martinez fashion and admit paternal issues?

“These are statement games,” Pacioretty said after beating the Blues, 4-1, but he might as well have been talking about Saturday.

These two teams won’t meet again until February. The Bruins certainly won’t want to waste their bounce back fortune on, once again, turtling against their rivals whom they won’t see for another three months.

Whether or not the Habs have passed the Bruins in terms of elite Eastern Conference teams is up or debate. But the monkey that’s there is one the Bruins desperately need to shake before April or May comes around.

Figuring out how to do that, well now that’s the challenge.