So who said the Bruins/Canadiens rivalry was dead anyway?
Okay, so maybe this humble hockey writer has on several occasions, but there is nothing like a battle for first place in the Atlantic Division set at the Bell Centre to rekindle those dormant feelings of innate rivalry between the B’s and the Habs.
Perhaps sensing this, the Bruins and Canadiens put on a show on Saturday night at the Bell Centre with Nikita Zadorov and Jayden Struble tangling right off the opening face-off in the first period, and then less than five minutes later, Tanner Jeannot dropped Arber Xhekaj with an overhand righty punch that hit him squarely in the face.
ZADOROV AND STRUBLE DROPPED THE GLOVES ON THE OPENING DRAW 😳🥊 pic.twitter.com/IxVe8nsHsq
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 16, 202
It was Old Time Hockey Boston/Montreal style again and nobody was unhappy about it.
“I mean…why not? It’s Saturday night at the Bell Centre. Big Rivalry. At least it used to be a big rivalry and maybe [now] it’s new again,” said Zadorov with a big smile on his face. “Just trying to get the boys going.
“I haven’t been here in the past, and obviously watching from the outside is different and there was different personnel [on the teams]. I feel like those two teams hated each other for a long time and I think the playoffs definitely bring it back, so you never know.”
Both teams mostly got down to intense, fast-paced business after that with the Bruins taking a 3-2 road win over the Canadiens that now sees them sitting all alone in first place in the Atlantic Division with less than two weeks until Thanksgiving.
It appears more and more like the Black and Gold are going to be a playoff team this season and the quality road win against a surprising Canadiens hockey club is another piece of convincing evidence to place in that category.
“You could feel the energy [before the game] and it felt like it had been a long time since we had played them,” said David Pastrnak. “Both teams are playing good hockey, so we enjoyed the moment and made sure we had a good start. Two amazing, big fights for us, two wins and two points for us.
“Every divisional opponent and win is huge. Especially coming into Montreal’s building where it isn’t an easy place to play, and they are a good team that plays well here. Very skilled and a good power play. So a ton of credit to the penalty kill and [Jeremy Swayman]. It’s always fun to steal the points from the Bell Centre. “
But getting back to the Bruins/Canadiens rivalry, it probably hasn’t been in its proper place in the NHL world since the Habs beat the Bruins during the second round of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. Back then Jarome Iginla was playing for a Bruins team that was one year removed from a Stanley Cup Final appearance, and PK Subban was playing for the Michel Therrien-coached Canadiens. After that series was over, Milan Lucic was threatening Habs players Alexei Emelin and Dale Weise in the handshake line after it was all over, so things definitely got pretty nasty between the two rivals.
We finally got to the bottom of the Dale Weise-Milan Lucic handshake line beef from 2014.
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) April 20, 2021
📺: https://t.co/fGcyKDDLBU pic.twitter.com/vDHRbXCpdv
So that gives everybody an idea of how long it’s been since Boston and Montreal have truly been at each other’s throats in entertaining fashion.
But this could and should be the season when all those memories of on-ice hatred and enmity come flooding back when the two Original Six rivals take the ice against each other. And the NHL’s best rivalry will truly get back to the place where it’s supposed to be if they can somehow find a way to meet up in the Stanley Cup playoffs five or so months from now.
The one lament in all of this is that these two teams will only play each other three times during the entire regular season, which is another undeniable reason why divisional rivalries are somewhat dead in the NHL these days, where those teams just don’t see each other enough during the regular season to generate those entertainingly hard feelings against each other.
But there is hope that the B’s/Habs rivalry is coming back after Saturday night’s entertaining tilt between the two longtime franchises.
ONE TIMERS
• The compacted NHL regular season schedule during an Olympic year is a tough one for all the NHL players, given how the regular 82-game docket is crammed into a shorter time period, and with that comes unavoidable attrition and injuries.
The B’s are the only team in the entire Eastern Conference that has played 20 games headed into Sunday’s action, and they are one of only three NHL teams (Edmonton and Calgary as the others) that have essentially played 20 games in 38 days, which amounts to more than an every-other-day grind.
So it’s no surprise to see the injuries beginning to pile up with Elias Lindholm (lower body) skating but still out of the lineup, Jordan Harris (ankle) out for a long period of time, Casey Mittelstadt currently out as well, and now Viktor Arvidsson and Charlie McAvoy down and out after Saturday night’s win over the Montreal Canadiens.
There was no update on McAvoy (who took a slap shot to the jaw) or Arvidsson (lower body injury that looked like it happened as he was striding and skating) from Marco Sturm after the game other than it sounds like both significant players are going to miss some time.
“[McAvoy] is doing okay. He’s just getting some testing done,” said Sturm. “I know he’s trying to get the testing done and trying to get him home tonight with us if it’s possible. Other than that, hopefully he is okay.
[Arvidsson] will be out. Lower body [injury]. I don’t know for how long so we will have to wait and see.”
• One of the really underplayed storylines from this season’s Boston Bruins team is how effective that Mark Kastelic has been while staying healthy and playing in the energy forward role that is perfect for him. He almost single-handedly turned around the game in Ottawa on Thursday night when he ratcheted up the physicality and scored the tying goal in the third period before a couple of late breakdowns doomed the Black and Gold.
Kastelic had five goals in 61 games last season for the Bruins and has almost that many this season (four) in 20 games while on pace for 16 goals and 32 points that would represent big time career highs in both categories. But it’s been his leadership, his accountability, his toughness and his work ethic that have been major factors for the Black and Gold through the first two months this season as he’s become a staple among the bottom-6 forward group.
“He’s made it easy for me,” said Sturm, when asked about Kastelic’s bump in ice time. “It’s always good to have him out there as a righty for faceoffs, first of all. We don’t have that after we lost [Lindholm].
“He’s really good on draws. He has a good motor. He fights. He plays hard. Any loose pucks, he’s in there. That’s what I like and that’s why I trust him.”
Kastelic is actually fourth among all Bruins forwards with 16:13 of ice time per game and a big part of that is his yeoman’s work on the penalty kill, which was a massive part of Saturday night’s win in Montreal. The only real question will be if Kastelic can remain healthy given his rugged style of play and recklessness abandon out on the ice, but so far, so good for a player that had some pretty significant concussion issues last season.