Habs vs Bruins: Stability vs Transition

In today’s tilt vs the Boston Bruins, the Habs will be revisiting yet another rivalry and another original six opponent to kick off the season. Although these two teams definitely don’t see eye-to-eye, their animosity isn’t likely to be nearly as high as recent times. That’s mostly due to the departure of Milan Lucic who knew how to get under the skin of Habs players, such as Dale Weise who took him to task often.

The Boston Bruins are a team in transition, trying to rebuild their identity and to maintain its playoff tenure on the backs of David Krejci (29), Patrice Bergeron (30), Zdeno Chara (38), and Tuukka Rask (28). The problem for these is that once you look passed that core group, there isn’t much help, making this an extremely top-heavy built team.

BRUINS D

Zdeno Chara is their stalwart on the blue line and needs to carry much of the load for this team to succeed. The problem? He’s 38 years old, is starting to be injury prone, and has seen his minutes decline each season since 2006-07. He still plays a noteworthy 23 to 24:30 minutes per game, which is nothing to sneeze at. However, with the way this team is built, they need more from him than Chara can provide.

The remainder of their D isn’t noteworthy aside from Torey Krug who becomes their only other offensive threat on the blue line now that Dougie Hamilton is gone. If there’s one area of this team that is weakest at this point it’s their D. Habs forwards should be able to take advantage of this young group and create chances in front of Rask as often as possible.

Chara may be missing the game tonight (he missed the opener in Winnipeg) with an upper body injury, stating the following a few hours ago about his status:

"“I’m pleased that it’s getting better and every day it’s getting better,” Chara said. “Again, I wish I could give you more info or go further beyond tomorrow. But as of right now, I’m just waiting for tomorrow and I don’t want to have any setbacks, so if it keeps going like this, I’m pretty close.”"

Obviously not having Chara on their blue line makes winning a lot easier for the Habs. His pairing mate, Colin Miller, is unlikely to make the game as well.

BRUINS F

The Bruins brought in Matt Beleskey as a Free agent to help soften the blow of losing Milan Lucic. While Beleskey was a nice add, he can only do so much on a team that is even more one-line-centric than the Habs were last season. It’s pretty much Bergeron, Beleskey, and Loui Eriksson, and then the other guys. What would normally be third liners like Chris Kelly and Brad Marchand are asked to do more than they can on this team. There just isn’t any depth to the Bruins this season and if the Habs can shut down the first line, there’s little doubt they should come away with a win in this game.

The lone new forward that is intriguing on this team is David Pastrnak who did very well in their inaugural game of the season against the Jets.

BRUINS G

Tuukka Rask is a true #1 goaltender and gives the Bruins a chance to win any game they play well enough in. However, with a team in transition in front of him and an already banged up Chara, the Bruins goaltender will be hard pressed to win ore than 25 games this season.

Rask has the following stats vs the Habs over his Career (2014-15 in brackets)

W/L: 3-13 (0-3)
Save%: .905 (.886)
GAA: 2.73 (3.29)

Plain and simply put, the Habs are Rask’s kryptonite. He does better against every other NHL team than he does vs the Habs. So when you consider that the Bruins have a team in transition in front of him, one that Claude Julien is still trying to get moving in the right direction, and that Chara and Miller may not play on top of Rask’s record vs the Habs, it looks very good for a win today for Carey Price and the Habs.

This team allowed 6 goals in their first game of the season and it’s mostly due to mistakes made in coverage and in the transition game. I picked the Bruins to finish close to last in the division this year and it seems my selection may be well on its way to proving me right. It’s going to be a long season in New England for Bruins fans. It’s a good thing they can still count on Tom Brady and the Patriots to keep their spirits bright!

In contrast to the Bruins, the Habs are the very picture of stability. They have a few new ingredients to mix in, but unlike the Bruins, their newcomers have experience and are simply working on chemistry and getting to know the system. The one newcomer that won’t have the benefit of much practicing with the team will be Paul Byron who is expected to make his debut after being claimed off waivers this week. I expect him to be amped and ready to earn a more permanent role with the Habs in this game and look forward to seeing what he can do first hand. If anything, he should help make the fourth line more effective.

For all of the reasons provided above, I expect a blowout in this game. Final score?

152. Final. 1. 70. 6

It could be a little tighter if some of their young guys step up or if the Habs play undisciplined hockey, but after seeing the focus of the first line, the play of Alex Galchenyuk and Alexander Semin, and the outstanding performance of Carey Price, I don’t expect this to be anything but a win for the Montreal Canadiens.

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