Two U’s, two K’s, and a whole mess of L’s against the Canadiens
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
COMMENTARY
It was May 11, 2014.
Boston Red Sox starter John Lackey won his fifth game of the season, besting his Texas Rangers counterpart Robbie Ross in a 5-2 win for baseball’s defending World Series champs. The New England Patriots were still eight days from signing a rookie free agent cornerback by the name of Malcolm Butler. And the Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2, in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference playoff series to take a 3-2 lead.
The Habs have won every game since between the two clubs.
“I think the last time we beat them was in the playoffs a couple of years ago,’’ Bruins defenseman Torey Krug said. “Especially in their building, it’s a tough place to play. They get a lot of energy from their crowd. I thought the last time we played them we kind of let one slip away. We’ve got to go in with the right mindset to start the game and then go from there.’’
That’s nine straight games the Bruins have dropped to the Canadiens, Games 6 and 7 of their 2014 series, and now seven regular season contests stretching from last year’s donut effort against Montreal and this season.
Boston has lost 12 of its last 13 regular season contests against its one-time heated rivals, but gets another shot at ending the haplessness Wednesday night when the Bruins travel to Montreal for the final game between the teams until the much-ballyhooed and unaffordable Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 1.
The Canadiens have beaten the Bruins twice already this season, both by 4-2 scores that took place during the first month of the season (Oct. 10, Nov. 7) when Boston was still searching for some — any — semblance of an identity. Boston was 6-5-1 when it last played Montreal, 8-4-2 since, including a five-game winning streak.
But now the Bruins come into Wednesday having dropped three of its last four games, albeit one of the losses was a shootout in Edmonton last week, another an overtime loss in Calgary to pair with a laissez-faire effort against the Nashville Predators Monday night.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens may be getting the Bruins at just the right time, but that always seems to be the case. Montreal has lost two straight coming into the contest, leading the Eastern Conference with a 19-6-3 mark.
Are we set up for a yawn-fest or rebirth of what was once a heated rivalry?
“I still think there’s animosity there between the two teams, but it’s just that I think the fighting part is not as obvious or there as much as it was at one point,’’ Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “So that’s the one thing that’s kind of slipped a little bit.’’
Well, it’s not the only thing that’s slipped. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask’s struggles against Montreal are no secret, but he figures to get his second start of the season against the Habs on Wednesday night with Jonas Gustavsson having faced the Predators. Rask has a 2.89 GAA and .901 save percentage over a 1-8-2 span in the Montreal series. The goalie is 3-14-3 against the Canadiens in 20 regular season games. On the other hand, the Bruins won’t have to face Carey Price, the Montreal goalie who has owned them recently but is currently sidelined with a lower body injury.
When he was seated in favor of Gustavsson last month against the Canadiens, Rask didn’t seem like a guy champing at the bit to make a point against a team that has been his Achilles.
“When coach looks at the rotation certain games fall to the other guy, and I don’t mind that,’’ said Rask, who is 9-7-3 with a 2.72 GAA and .906 save percentage this season. “I’ll play whenever I get called upon.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s just one game, and it’s not the playoffs. So it’s okay. I don’t think it matters.’’
Against a team that continually embarrasses you on the ice? Yeah, it does.
Rask’s record against the Canadiens would be his personal worst against any one team if he weren’t only 1-7-3 against the Washington Capitals. If the Bruins do indeed have any delusions of grandeur about making a Cup run come spring, they’ll have to do it through Montreal. Doing it with a goalie that seems to run scared every time against the opponent isn’t encouraging.
“Well, I think we don’t play our hockey when we get to them,’’ Krug said following Boston’s first loss to Montreal this season in Game 2 of the schedule. “And I think you know you can’t hype it up. It’s just another team, it’s worth the same amount of points as every other game that you play. For whatever reason, we’ve got to work through it.’’
Rivalry night on NBC Sports Network, with heavy emphasis on the nationally broadcast showdown on New Year’s Day.
Yup. Just another night.
Contact Eric Wilbur at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @GlobeEricWilbur and Facebook www.facebook.com/GlobeEricWilbur/
Thirty-six images that will remind you how tough the ‘Big Bad Bruins’ were
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