The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens have enjoyed a longstanding rivalry dating back to the NHL’s earliest days.
With the two rivals currently sitting atop the Atlantic Division standings, their first matchup of the season Thursday night in Boston should feature added intensity on top of dueling Hometown Remix jerseys.
First-place Boston is riding a four-game win streak, while Montreal has used an 11-game point streak (8-0-3) to climb within a point of the division lead. Moreover, the Bruins are 8-1-0 at home and the Canadiens are 6-1-1 on the road.
“They are just getting better and better as a team. That core is really good, especially right now with the way they are playing,” Bruins forward Mikey Eyssimont said of the Habs. “It is going to be an exciting game.”
Marco Sturm has now faced Montreal as both a player and coach in Boston. He is well aware of the nature of the rivalry.
“Actually, I just got a question from a friend of mine (this week), ‘What’s your biggest rivalry?’ And I said, ‘It’s still Montreal, for sure.’ Not even close,” Sturm said. “What I experienced even last year, that hasn’t changed. I’m really looking forward to (Thursday’s) game.”
Boston has been idle since Sunday, when it defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1 for its first Atlantic Division victory in only its second opportunity.
Eyssimont, who scored an AHL-leading 13 goals in eight games for Providence, was recalled for his NHL season debut before that game and netted the eventual deciding goal in support of Jeremy Swayman.
“He’s just one of those players that I can put in different situations, and that’s why he got the call,” Sturm said of Eyssimont, who skated with Fraser Minten and Morgan Geekie on Boston’s second line.
Geekie has also scored in four straight games (2 goals, 4 assists) after entering that stretch with just one goal this season.
Montreal is coming off another showdown game with one of the league’s best, having dropped a 2-1 overtime game Tuesday to the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Wild, who make the trip to Boston on Saturday.
“It’s mid-November. I’m not too wrapped up in (playing for first place),” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “You want to go there, lay your process over theirs and see where it takes you. If you win, you’ve got to start over (the next day). If you lose, you’ve got to start over. It’s an everyday thing.”
The Canadiens were at risk of having their point streak snapped before Nick Suzuki scored with 1:38 left in regulation to force overtime, but a Wild power-play goal in the extra session — following a debated Cole Caufield slash on Quinn Hughes — was the difference.
“You look at the stat sheet, we’re the most-penalized team. We talk about it all the time. I mean, some of (the calls), it’s … I’ll just leave it at that,” said forward Josh Anderson,.
The Canadiens have been whistled for 84 minor penalties, although that is second-most in the league behind Florida’s 86.
Jacob Fowler’s steady play in net since being recalled from AHL affiliate Laval a week into the season has been a key to Montreal’s surge from 3-3-1 to 11-3-4 over the past three-plus weeks.
“The consistency part (of his game) is impressive,” St. Louis said of Fowler, who has started 11 of Montreal’s last 15 games. “He’s a pretty even-keeled guy.”
The 21-year-old former Boston College goaltender, who beat the Bruins at TD Garden in his fifth NHL outing last December, is off to an 8-1-2 start and ranks third in the NHL with a .925 save percentage. He has backstopped two shutouts and allowed just two goals in back-to-back games.