Just the Facts
- The Time: 7pm EST
- The Place: Centre Bell, Montreal, Quebec
- Place to Watch: NESN, NHL Network, CITY, SportsNet East, TVAS
- Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Eyes on the Prize
Game Preview
The Habs and the Bruins. In what should be playoff position in the middle of November. Meaning at least these two teams could be considered Atlantic Division Good.
What Atlantic Division Good means for
the rest of the league…don’t worry too much about it.
The Habs are a genuine joy to watch if you have no rooting interest against them. Cole Caufield is an electric, almost league leading goalscorer, Nick Suzuki has truly come into his niche as a 200-foot center, Juraj Slafkovsky is becoming an overwhelming force of possession, Ivan Demidov has the makings of a genuine superstar, and on the back end, they have Lane Hutson, who seems to be the best thing Holland, Michigan ever produced; he’s fast, his maneuvability on-ice is leagues beyond where a lot of players are, and he’s already a major focus of their power play. They’ve successfully gotten themselves off the mat possession-wise though are still in the bottom third of the league, and are about league average when it comes to generating quality shots.
And yet…with all those good things, the Habs are probably the most interesting squad in the Eastern Conference right now because they are so overwhelmingly flawed as well. They’re doing well, sure, but they’re doing it in spite of a lot of lingering issues. First of which being injury; they’re without Kaiden Guhle and Alex Newhook for the forseeable future, and Patrik Laine is out until what is increasingly looking like 2026. Guhle and Laine I could personally take or leave, but Newhook’s season was genuinely going really well; 12 points in 17 games, and a major shot in the arm for their offense. Without him, a lot of the other parts don’t quite fall into place. Montreal’s center depth still remains quite shallow and it’s only becoming more pronounced with each game.
Further, goaltending in Montreal, once a historical strength, has fallen on leaner times. In fairness, whatever qualities that Dobes and Montembeault happen to have, they are not getting a helluva lot of help out in front of themselves, but a painful reality persists that while both have had some games to remember, a vast majority have been on them to play well…and they do not respond well to that.
Of course, we of all fanbases should know what that’s like; given that Swayman and Korpisalo’s performances this year have been nearly identical to Dobes and Montembeault in terms of SV% and almost in terms of record.
Of course, that’s the usual, on-paper stuff. What almost always defines Bruins-Habs is that a true rivalry forces both sides to begin digging down to each other’s level and then right past that to force them to dig even deeper. I have held that playing the Habs just kind of does something to the Bruins; their reasoning skills atrophy, their decision-making suffers, the refs become irritated with them, and the only real saving grace is that the exact same happens to the team in Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge. In recent years the Habs have been too ineffectual across the board to make any of that look anything more than embarrassing, but this year?
This year could be the return of this rivalry that fans have missed. The fires of hate being reignited.
Tonight, we find out if we’re cooking with gas.
