GAMEDAY GAME PREVIEW:

So with all of this election drama, are you gonna be watching the game tonight? I’ll be the first to admit I’ll be doing some channel flipping, but fear not, we’ll be blogging the game!

So here are the lines tonight:

Marchand/Bergeron/Pastrnak
Spooner/Krejci/Backes
Beleskey/Nash/Czarnik
Schaller/Moore/Acciari

Chara/Carlo
Krug/McQuaid
Liles/Miller

Tuukka Rask … we think?

Over on the Habs side it’s:

Pacioretty/Plekanec/Gallagher
Byron/Galchenyuk/Radulov
Carr/Desharnais/Shaw
Danault/Mitchell/Flynn

Weber/Emelin
Markov/Petry
Beaulieu/Pateryn

Carey Price

Now, the Bruins are coming off a nice little shutout win last night over the Sabres, although there are questions about the health of Tuukka Rask, who seems to be dealing with a knee/groin/lower body (??) nagging injury. His start, on back-to-back nights, is very uncertain. Besides, Rask’s career record against the Habs can only be described in one word – horrible (5-15-3 to be precise).

For the Habs, who are coming off yet another unimpressive win, Daniel Carr will get a start, his first in nearly a three weeks, in place of Artturi Lehkonen, who’s out day-to-day with an upper body injury.

FIRST PERIOD:

– You’re watching the game? HARD. CORE. Any who, Zane Mcintyre will start tonight for the Bruins, which is probably best for them, since Tuukka Rask has but 5 career wins in 24 starts against Montreal.

– McIntyre is a bit all over the place, but he’s keeping the puck out, even with some good early Habs pressure.

– Jeff Petry. Sneaky bone thundering check thrower.

– Habs breakouts, which have been pretty miserable this season, are somewhat improved. Bruins aren’t doing an especially good job in the neutral zone.

– Bruins to the powerplay, which for the past week, one might say for the entire season so far, has been pretty damn horrible.

– Bruins getting pucks at Price, but nothing particularly dangerous, at least by Carey’s standards.

– Bruins, even though it’s second game in as many nights, looking decently sprite out there. But that could and should change as the game wears on.

– Habs forwards definitely having easier time driving the net than the Bruins driving Price. Over a 60 minute game, that tends to favour your fortunes.

– Relatively even period – from Boston’s perspective, not bad since they’re on tired legs. For the Habs, signs are there over the long run they should be in pretty good shape.

SECOND PERIOD:

– This doesn’t fit with the “grit” and “character” formula that’s become an obsession for this organization, but Carr makes this lineup a whole lot better than Brian Flynn ever did.

– Weber with another cannon on the powerplay, Mcintyre likely never saw it with a Bruins defenseman blocking his view, and Habs hit the scoreboard first. That’s 4 for Weber with the man advantage, currently tops in the League.

– Well that didn’t last long. Bruins get a fluke, with Backes point shot that’s played aside by Price, hitting the backboards, and bouncing back to hit his leg to trickle in. The unpredictable nature of hockey strikes again. These things happen.

– Having trouble keeping up here. Habs retake the lead only seconds lately, Byron a sweet feed from his line to Radulov, who flips to Galchenyuk, who in turn makes a dazzling backhander past McIntyre. In the matter of about 4 seconds, from the Habs blue line, Montreal takes the lead. The Canadiens have been doing this many times this season – long passes from their zone to the opposition blue line, utilizing their speed to create odd man breaks. It’s a risky strategy, fraught with the high possibility of surrendering a neutral zone turnover (and odd man break the other direction), but so far, it’s been working.

– Carr having himself a whale of a period here, and as a whole, a most excellent game. There was more than a good argument to be made that he shouldn’t have been demoted in the first place, and now he’s making quite the statement that he really ought to stay.

– What’s Jack Nicklaus doing at a Habs game? Enquiring minds want to know.

– Rudulov can be an exceptional playmaker. I sometimes wonder if he’d thrive just as much at centre as he does on the wing?

– Emelin furious at Marchand at the end of the period, for what, I haven’t the slightest clue. I’m assuming the usual – Marchand acting like an idiot.

– Better period for the Habs, shot suppression was much better, Bruins only on the board because of a fluky bounce. Habs speed seems to be just a little too much for the Bruins to handle tonight, not only because Boston is coming off a game last night, but their defence, as you may have noticed, can be awfully slow to adjust.

THIRD PERIOD:

– Early returns from the U.S. Election look … uh … not promising. OKAY, HOCKEY IT IS.

– I like this Mcintyre kid – plays a very aggressive game, unafraid to come well out past his crease (kind of a lost art among today’s goaltenders). Bruins seem to okay for backup now that it appears their first round Subban pick has turned into a bust.

– Pacioretty/Plekanec/Mitchell? Mmmkay … that’s … interesting.

– Super stupid interference by Emelin gives Bruins a powerplay 5 minutes into the 3rd. Betcha Boston scores. Opposing teams always seem to with dumb penalties.

– Hah. With 2 seconds left in the powerplay, guess what? Boston ties the game. Pastrnak hammers a one-timer past Price. No chance. Alexei Emelin stupidity strikes again.

– Radulov another gem game. Seemingly he never has a bad shift – ferocious work ethic and creating chances like crazy.

– Mcintrye really does well with pads – flips them quickly, suckers shooters into low shots that are easily turned aside.

– Weber suddenly paired with Beaulieu and Emelin now with Petry. Well, that’s interesting.

– Miserable shift for the Desharnais line – Bruins hem Habs in hard, and nearly take the lead.

– Habs pushing, pressing, getting close. Markov with a 50 footer that rings off the post. 2 minutes left in the 3rd.

– Ah, there we have it. Bryon picks up a loose puck as the Habs drive the net – and guess who’s the catalyst on the play? Radulov, of course. 3-2 Canadiens with just a minute left.

– No question, Radulov the first 13 games of this season is the Habs MVP.

– Boston challenging the play. Might as well try. But this goal isn’t coming back.

– Bruins can’t get anything going last minute of this period.

– Brian Flynn out there last minute. That’s something I don’t understand.

– Habs hold on for the win, much better than their win on Saturday night in that they actually kinda sorta deserved the outcome. Bruins defense not good enough, their offence seemed to run out of gas as the game progressed, and the Canadiens continue to pad their win total for the eventual decline. Whenever that occurs.

By A.J Bassett.