Habs in their Heads

[Habsfan84]

It’s one thing to look at the season series between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens and just assume that with their 32-12 advantage on the scoreboard and their 6-0-0 record vs. Boston the Habs have out classed the Bruins.

But heading into Thursday night’s seventh meeting of the season between the two longtime rivals, the prevailing opinion around the boys in Black and Gold is two fold: the Bruins haven’t played their best games against the Canadiens, and Montreal has succeeded in distracting the Bruins from playing their best by baiting them into extracurricular physical play.

In head-to-head games, Montreal has been on the power play 28 times to Boston’s 22. And whether it’s been Francis Bouillon leveling Aaron Ward with an elbow, Mark Stuart dropping the gloves twice against two different Habs pugilists or head coach Claude Julien shouting bloody murder from one bench to the next, it’s seemed that the Canadiens have gotten the last laugh in more ways than goal-scoring.

“I think it’s happened six times that we’ve let our tempers get the best of us, so I think in that way you can learn from something right there,” said rookie winger Milan Lucic, who always has a mature perspective despite just being 19 years old. “So we take that out of the equation, we’ve got play our game; we still want to play physical, but at the same time we’ve got to play smart.”

Just as wise, but also more experienced in these situations, Ward thinks the Bruins should only look at their recent results against other teams rather than past match-ups with Montreal for strength.

“That’s the composure part. Maybe sometimes we get carried away a little bit with the rivalry – not overtly, but it happens. And when you start losing, you try to play a little more physical, which I think has shown itself ineffective,” the defenseman said. “We’ve played teams in the league that are similar and we’ve had success; we just have to kind of harness that success in this direction now.”

In trying to prove that there’s a chance for the Bruins to slow down the Canadiens and maybe even pull out two points if his team sticks to its system and doesn’t hand Montreal a boatload of scoring chances and odd-man rushes, Ward points to the Buffalo Sabres – a team Boston has compiled a 4-1-1 record against.

“I compare them to Buffalo; they’ve got high skill level,” Ward said. “They’re fast, they’re skilled, so it’s just similar in the capacity that you have to keep a level head at all times – whether it’s the physical line, whether it’s the tactical line. In all capacities, it has to be present.”

●After a day off and a day of off-ice training, the full Bruins squad took the ice today for practice in Wilmington. Zdeno Chara joined the fray, and after practice he was asked if he’s been able to do all the things he needs to do to return to the line-up.

“Yup,” said the captain.

It will be a game-day decision if Chara plays or misses his sixth straight game.

●The recovering trio of Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Alberts and Manny Fernandez also made it through practice without incident. Bergeron and Alberts wore red “no-contact” jerseys, but Bergeron took part in some 3-on-3 “battle drills” for the first time.

“It was good. It was actually the first drill that I had some pressure like that,” said Bergeron, who figures he’ll take the neuro-psych test that could clear him for contact drills sometime in the next week or so. “Just to have the guys go quicker at me is the timing I’ve got to get back.”