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Bruins hope to rebound, extend Northeast Division lead over Habs

Mar 8, 2011 - 4:06 PM (Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins had their longest winning streak of the season snapped in their last game, but the Northeast Division leaders will try to rebound when they visit the rival Montreal Canadiens tonight at Bell Centre.

The Bruins had won seven straight games before losing in overtime Saturday against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. The setback marked the end of Boston's longest winning streak since a 10-game stretch from Dec. 12, 2008-Jan 1, 2009.

The Canadiens, meanwhile, carry a four-game winning streak into this evening's important divisional battle. With 84 points, Boston is holding a five-point edge over Montreal for first place in the Northeast.

The Bruins are also two points behind Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference lead and the Flyers are also in action tonight against visiting Edmonton. The Canadiens are currently sitting sixth in the conference standings.

Montreal won its first three meetings against the Bruins this season, but Boston recorded a wild 8-6 victory when the clubs last met in Beantown on Feb. 9.

The Canadiens have taken five of six and eight of their last 10 games with Boston and the Bruins have dropped three in a row at the Bell Centre. Montreal is 20-8-6 as the host this season, while the Bruins have an excellent 22-7-4 road record.

Montreal last played on Saturday, when it picked up a 4-2 win in Tampa. Max Pacioretty scored two goals and Carey Price made 43 saves to lift the Habs past the Lightning.

Hal Gill and David Desharnais also tallied for Montreal. Gill, who is primarily known as a stay-at-home defenseman, has scored a goal in two straight games after going the previous 99 games without a marker.

"It's nice to help out, you get lucky shoot at the net and it goes in," Gill said. "It's always fun to score. I'd love to do more, but I have to focus on other things."

Price is expected to get the start tonight for Montreal and he would like to make up for allowing all eight goals when the Habs lost to the Bruins back on Feb. 9. Montreal's No. 1 netminder is still 12-3-2 with a 2.64 goals-against average in his career against Boston.

The Bruins, meanwhile, were dealt their first loss since Feb. 15 when they dropped Saturday's 3-2 decision to the visiting Penguins. Dustin Jeffrey's second goal of the game ended the contest at 1:52 of overtime.

Jeffrey streaked down the right side, cut to the middle and beat Tim Thomas with a forehand shot inside the left post to end the contest.

Zdeno Chara and David Krejci scored for the Bruins and Thomas ended up with 36 stops.

Boston did well to earn the point, however, as the Bruins tied the game at 2-2 on Krejci's goal with just 33 seconds left in regulation.

"It was a tough one there, especially after tying it up at the end," said Bruins forward Michael Ryder. "I think we were playing well in every role and that's a positive thing."

Boston still enters tonight with another streak intact, as Claude Julien's club has won its last six games on the road. The Bruins' last road defeat came on Feb. 13 in Detroit.

Thomas has started three games against the Canadiens this year and is 1-1-1 with a 4.28 GAA in those outings. The veteran backstop is 9-14-4 with a 3.16 GAA in his career against Montreal.