Bruins @ Canadiens

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
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Dec 12, 2004
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Tough scene for them with Caufield out for the year and just generally being a bad hockey team.

Hang double digits on Sammy Montembeault
 

LogansDad

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Nov 15, 2006
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Alamogordo
Habs are always tough for the B's and this is the start of an interesting road trip. But, the Bruins should crush this team.
 

cshea

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Nov 15, 2006
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306, row 14
Habs are always tough for the B's and this is the start of an interesting road trip. But, the Bruins should crush this team.
I don't mean to put the cart before the wagon here, but this hasn't really been accurate. In their last 15 games against Montreal, dating back to the 17/18 season, the Bruins are 12-2-1 with a +29 goal differential against Montreal. We've beaten them like a drum, and it's glorious.

Montreal seems to be satisfied with having a frisky first half that showed some promise but are now putting the pedal to the metal for the tank. They shut down Caufield and Slafkovsky for the year, Gallahgher is out for a while, etc. They have some work to do to truly enter the Bedard sweepstakes.
 

Red Right Ankle

Formerly the Story of Your Red Right Ankle
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Jul 2, 2006
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I don't mean to put the cart before the wagon here, but this hasn't really been accurate. In their last 15 games against Montreal, dating back to the 17/18 season, the Bruins are 12-2-1 with a +29 goal differential against Montreal. We've beaten them like a drum, and it's glorious.

Montreal seems to be satisfied with having a frisky first half that showed some promise but are now putting the pedal to the metal for the tank. They shut down Caufield and Slafkovsky for the year, Gallahgher is out for a while, etc. They have some work to do to truly enter the Bedard sweepstakes.
In other words, for every goal MTL scored in those 15 games, BOS has scored a little less than 3. Beaten like a drum, indeed.
 

durandal1707

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Apr 18, 2007
6,131
I'm in the camp that the Bs should absolutely destroy them, but this game has potential for a high PITA factor, given:

1. Montembeault is #3 in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes (min 10 games). (Ullmark is still #1, and Swayman is #9, but still...)
2. Bruins have a 46.9% share of power play time, which is extremely suspect given that they're a top 3 team in terms of 5v5 xGF. Regarding penalty allotment, they're among the ranks of cellar-dwelling teams such as Columbus, Arizona, Anaheim, and... Montreal. (And in fairness, Seattle is also getting screwed in this way.)
3. That said, I still expect any refshow antics to benefit the Habs tomorrow night, and the Bruins' power play has been a bit lackluster (by their standards) recently.
 

MiracleOfO2704

not AWOL
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Jul 12, 2005
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We’ve had a lot of charts over the last 10-15 years proving that the Bruins are an anomaly in that regard: dominant 5v5 play, never get the kinds of calls their peers get.
 

wiffleballhero

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Mar 28, 2009
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In the simulacrum
We’ve had a lot of charts over the last 10-15 years proving that the Bruins are an anomaly in that regard: dominant 5v5 play, never get the kinds of calls their peers get.
A little bit of a Marchand tax.

I wonder if this pattern would apply if you could somehow eliminate the Marchand outlier in the data (hard to do because it is not just subtracting or normalizing his PiM but all the calls he does not get as well). Looking at hockey-reference just now I was surprised Brad doesn't have more PiM over the last dozen years. Yeah, he's highish, but he is rarely even in the league top 10.
 

durandal1707

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Apr 18, 2007
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We’ve had a lot of charts over the last 10-15 years proving that the Bruins are an anomaly in that regard: dominant 5v5 play, never get the kinds of calls their peers get.
I've certainly engaged in some conspiratorial thinking with regards to this in the past, but to get away from that, I think there's multiple factors behind it:
1. The wild inconsistency of NHL officiating in general.
2. Along those lines, NHL refs seem to call the scoreboard, favoring the team that's behind. (I can't substantiate that TBF.) And the Bruins over the years (and especially this year) frequently find themselves with multi-goal leads midway through games.
3. The lingering reputation of "the Big Bad Bruins" despite the team's composition and attitude becoming decidedly smaller and less physical over the years.
4. (major bias alert) It seems that Bruins tend to embellish/dive less frequently than some of their peers.
5. As @wiffleballhero mentions, there's the Marchand Effect.
 

Joe D Reid

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Jan 15, 2004
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Never forget, kicking the Habs in the teeth is one of nature's great joys. Stop and smell the flowers.
 

The Napkin

wise ass al kaprielian
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Jul 13, 2002
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right here
When do you think we get the first Jack rant about the schedule and first time seeing Montreal this year and blah blah blah. Gotta be in the pregame, no?
 

BostonFanInCanesLand

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Jun 16, 2011
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The current iteration of the Canadiens is one that is not really relevant to the Bruins. In the ACC Duke and UNC are rivals and NC State is the younger sibling trying to gain the status of chief rival. I‘m much more interested in how Toronto or Tampa Bay matches up with Boston.

And yet, despising the Canadiens is in my blood, like hating the Yankees and the Lakers. Being irrelevant doesn’t change the core truth - life is always a little bit sweeter when Boston beats these historic “rivals.”

So crush them please (in spite of the fact that it improves their draft rankings).

morning rushes:
Marchand - Bergeron - Smith
Zacha - Krejci - Pastrnak
Hall - Coyle - Frederic
Foligno - Koppanen - Greer

Grzelcyk - McAvoy
Lindholm - Carlo
Forbort - Clifton

Ullmark/Swayman
 

cshea

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Nov 15, 2006
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306, row 14
I thought it was a penalty. Tugged Suzuki’s hands creating a turnover in a dangerous area.

Marchand didn’t say peep either, that’s usually a tell.
 

barclay

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Jan 27, 2006
1,333
The B's cannot score enough goals against this team to satisfy me -- not today, tomorrow, or as Buzz Lightyear has it, "to infinity and beyond." That said, five and a few will do for now.
 

The Napkin

wise ass al kaprielian
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Jul 13, 2002
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right here
I'm in the camp that the Bs should absolutely destroy them, but this game has potential for a high PITA factor, given:

1. Montembeault is #3 in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes (min 10 games). (Ullmark is still #1, and Swayman is #9, but still...)
I blame you