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Canadiens-Bruins Preview

Feb 3, 2010 - 6:46 PM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Montreal (26-25-6) at Boston (23-22-9), 7:00 p.m. EDT

One season after finishing atop the Eastern Conference, the Montreal Canadiens barely held on to the last playoff spot in 2008-09.

At the rate it's going, the team that won the East last season won't get that far.

The reeling Boston Bruins will try to avoid a ninth straight loss - the second-longest skid in team history - Thursday night against the visiting Canadiens.

Boston supplanted Montreal as Eastern champs in 2008-09, while the Canadiens edged out Florida for the conference's final postseason berth. The Bruins swept their Northeast Division rivals in the opening round.

This season hasn't proved as glimmering as Boston (23-22-9) has a league-low 131 goals and numerous injuries have taken a toll.

Forwards Marc Savard, Marco Sturm, Steve Begin and Byron Bitz have returned in the past three games, but defensemen Mark Stuart and Andrew Ference remain out. Stuart is expected to miss four weeks after Monday's surgery on his broken left pinky finger.

Those additions couldn't help the Bruins snap their 0-6-2 skid Tuesday night in a 4-1 home loss to Washington. David Krejci opened the scoring nearly 7 minutes into the first period but missed a penalty shot that could have broken a 1-all tie in the second.

The Capitals pulled away with three goals in the final 20 minutes to send Boston to its first eight-game slide since Dec. 22, 1955-Jan. 12, 1956.

The Bruins haven't dropped nine in a row since a franchise-worst 11 consecutive defeats from Dec. 8, 1924-Feb. 17, 1925. They're 0-6-1 in Boston since beating Philadelphia in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park.

Boston has been outscored 26-12 during its losing streak and 39-19 while dropping 11 of 12. The Bruins have scored one goal in both losses this season to the Canadiens after winning five of six meetings in 2008-09 by a 22-12 margin.

"Good lord, I don't know if we used all of (the goals) last year or what," Savard told the team's official Web site. "It's frustrating, for sure."

Boston has fallen to 12th in the East but is three points behind seventh-place Montreal (26-25-6). To get back among the top eight teams, the Bruins could use better efforts against the Canadiens as the teams will meet four times in their next 13 games.

In the first of those meetings, Montreal will try to snap a three-game road losing streak. The Canadiens are coming off a 3-2 win Tuesday night over Northwest Division-leading Vancouver.

Jaroslav Halak stopped 45 shots and his teammates backed him by scoring three goals for the first time in four games. Sergei Kostitsyn had his first multipoint effort with a goal and an assist.

The Canadiens could use more production with leading goal scorer Michael Cammalleri (26) expected to miss six weeks after suffering a right knee injury Saturday. Cammalleri had the only shootout goal in a 2-1 victory at Boston on Nov. 5 and recorded his fourth career hat trick in a 5-1 home win Dec. 4.

The Canadiens endured a number of injuries in late November but picked up eight of 12 points. That has coach Jacques Martin optimistic his team can survive Cammalleri's absence.

"The players responded well and stepped up then," he told the team's official Web site. "I think they will do the same now."