• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Canadiens-Bruins Preview

Mar 2, 2010 - 6:51 PM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Montreal (29-28-6) at Boston (27-22-11), 7:00 p.m. EDT

If the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens needed any help readjusting to the NHL following the two-week Olympic break, a matchup between two Original Six rivals in the thick of a crowded playoff race should be just the thing.

The Bruins hope to build on their four-game winning streak and snap a string of nine straight home losses as they host Montreal on Tuesday night, with the Canadiens looking to leapfrog Boston for seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

Both teams had several players in action in Vancouver, with Boston center Patrice Bergeron the only one to bring home a gold medal after playing for Team Canada.

Bergeron, however, will not play in this game after aggravating a groin injury in the gold medal game against the United States.

Neither club can afford much of a slip-up in its return to NHL play. The Bruins (27-22-11) are in seventh place in the East with 65 points, one more than Montreal (29-28-6) and two ahead of Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers.

"It's a big game, right away, and we just have to make sure we're ready for that," German Olympian and Boston forward Marco Sturm told the Bruins' official Web site. "Break is over, so we just have to make sure that we start there where we left off the week before the break."

That was a good place for Boston, which stabilized by taking all eight points on a four-game road trip going into the break. The Bruins had lost 10 straight games before opening that trip with a 3-0 win in Montreal, a game that featured a 36-save shutout by Tuukka Rask.

Although teammate Tim Thomas won the Vezina Trophy last season and was the backup for the United States in Vancouver, the young Rask has started the Bruins' last six games, going 4-0-2 with a 1.90 goals-against average.

Coach Claude Julien's team may have improved its collective confidence with its winning streak, but the Bruins haven't won in front of a home crowd since a 2-1 overtime win over Philadelphia in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park on Jan. 1.

The nine-game home skid is two shy of the franchise record, set during the club's inaugural season in 1924-25, and it includes a 3-2 shootout loss to Montreal on Feb. 4 - the Canadiens' second shootout win in Boston this season.

It has been even more surprising coming one season after the Bruins went 29-6-6 at the TD Garden.

"We've played very well on the road and I think we have to have the same mindset coming back home," veteran forward Mark Recchi said.

The Canadiens have dropped six of their last eight on the road, and they begin post-Olympic play with a challenging four-game trip that takes them to the West Coast following Tuesday's game.

"A game against Boston is a great way to kick off a road trip," forward Brian Gionta told the Canadiens' official Web site. "(Tuesday) will be a chance to get back into our rhythm."

Montreal will have Carey Price in net after Jaroslav Halak led Slovakia to a fourth-place finish at the Olympics.

No Canadiens earned medals. Aside from Halak, the team's other competitors were Sergei Kostitsyn of Belarus, Andrei Markov of Russia and Tomas Plekanec, a Czech Republic teammate of Boston's David Krejci.

Price has stopped 79 of 81 shots in a pair of wins over the Bruins this season, improving to 8-2-2 against Boston. That record, however, doesn't include a 4-7-0 postseason mark.

The Canadiens remain without leading goal-scorer Mike Cammalleri and top-scoring defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron as each recovers from a knee injury. Boston has battled injuries to many of its top players this season, but it may finally be at full strength Tuesday.