Game 9- Bruins vs. Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens will be in Boston’s TD Garden Thursday night. It will be the first game between the two Original Six franchises since last Spring’s seven game Eastern Conference quarter finals: A series that was won in overtime of the epic seventh game when Boston’s Nathan Horton scored to send the Canadiens home for the summer and the Bruins to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The game also marks the first face to face meeting between B’s captain Zdeno Chara and Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty since the now infamous game from last season when Pacioretty was injured when checked into a stanchion (by Chara) at Montreal’s Bell Centre. It is all but certain the two will see plenty of each other throughout the Thursday’s game. Chara is usually charged with playing against opponents’ top lines and scorers and Pacioretty, with nine points in nine games, leads the Canadiens in scoring this season.

Montreal coming to town also means the return of defenseman P. K. Subban. The highly skilled blue liner leads the Habs in time on ice but has only three assists to show for it. There is no question Subban will attract the attention of the Bruins with his brash style of play.

Both teams are experiencing slow starts this season. Boston (3-5-0) sits in 13th place in the National Hockey League’s Eastern conference while Montreal (2-5-2) occupies last (15th) place in the East. The Bruins two areas of concern at this point in the season are goal scoring and, of course, the power play. In eight games, the Black and Gold have scored 19 goals or 2.25 per game.