Hot goalies collide as Bruins host Canadiens
Even though they're both middle-of-the-pack clubs in their offensive attack, it wouldn't be a bad idea to bet the "under" when the Montreal Canadiens visit the Boston Bruins on Monday night. Both the Canadiens (24-17-5) and Boston Bruins (26-15-4) are receiving some top-rate netminding from their No. 1 goalies these days. Montreal standout Carey Price is coming off a 3-0 shutout win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night -- the second goose egg he's posted in his last five outings. Meanwhile, Boston's Tuukka Rask is riding a personal five-game winning streak in which he's surrendered only five goals and posted a sparkling .954 save percentage. His latest performance was a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Not that Rask appears to care that much about the numbers he's posted the last couple of weeks. "I don't know. Good to get wins. One game at a time," Rask said after being asked whether he felt he was on a roll."Try to give your team a chance. Ups and downs happen. Just go game-by-game. But I feel good." Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy is a little more impressed. "He does look like he's back to where he's on his game. He's under control, doesn't seem to be getting rattled about anything," Cassidy said. "We're like everyone else, we need good goaltending to win. Good to see." The Canadiens have won two of their last three games to pull back into a wild-card spot, and are coming off a stifling defensive performance against Colorado's talented top line. The task will be no easier against the Bruins, which means the need for another great performance by Montreal's shutdown defense pairing of Shea Weber and Victor Mete. Weber, who missed a full year's action due to a foot injury before returning to the lineup in late November, is rounding into his standout form now having played 22 games this season. "There's been ups and downs, which is totally normal for a guy that hadn't played for that long," Julien said. "He's come back with a lot of excitement. The schedule, the games, when you haven't played in a year, catch up, but I think he's handled it well." The Bruins, who have won six of their last seven games, boast a top line every bit as potent as Colorado's top line, but have a deeper attack for the Canadiens to handle compared to the Avalanche. Case in point, fourth liner Sean Kuraly collected a career-high three points in the win over Toronto. "Listen, you need secondary scoring to win. We talked about it earlier in the year when we weren't winning. Now we're getting it and we're getting the points," Cassidy said. "Good for (Kuraly's line with Chris Wagner and Noel Acciari). They work hard. They're well liked by their teammates and well respected. You want good things to happen for those guys offensively and it is, recently." Like Rask was about his play, Kuraly, who has nine points (4-5-9) in his last 14 games, wasn't too excited about the personal success. "Two big points, there's no other way to look at it," he said with a shrug. --Field Level Media |