Need to Know: Bruins vs. Canadiens

BOSTON – With just three weeks remaining in the regular season, the Montreal Canadiens are making their first – and only – visit to TD Garden on Thursday night. It is a far cry from the days of Jim Montgomery’s youth when the Bruins and Habs were doing battle on a regular basis as fierce rivals in the old Adams Division.

“Montreal and the Bruins seemed to play each other every year in the playoffs the whole decade of the ’70s,” said Montgomery, whose club can clinch the Atlantic Division crown with a win over the Habs and a Toronto loss to Florida in regulation.

“I wish we played them, that team, particularly, more because it’s the Black & Gold vs. the Red, White, and Blue – it’s tradition of the game for me.”

With 32 teams now part of the league and an emphasis on each team playing each other at least twice – home and home – divisional opponents play only three or four times a season. As such, some of the animosity and familiarity between the rivals has begun to dissipate.

“Yeah, it is [strange]. I said that even when we were in Montreal earlier this year. I think it was in January and it was our first meeting against them all year,” Patrice Bergeron said of the Bruins and Canadiens first matchup of the season on Jan. 24 at Bell Centre. “It’s definitely something that is strange and is probably a first…I mean, I could be mistaken for myself and my career, but I think it is a first that it’s been this late.

“It’s one of our biggest rivals and it’s always a lot of fun to play against them, there’s lots of history on both sides, so you’d like to see a little bit more of those games, but I do understand that that is the way the schedule’s been written and it’s not easy to make 32 different schedules. But it is strange, and I guess we’re all really looking forward to it.”

Video: Bergeron talks after practice on Wednesday at WIA

Brad Marchand said that while the regular-season meetings have been limited, ultimately the cooling of the rivalry comes down to a lack of postseason matchups. After meeting six times in the Stanley Cup Playoffs between 2002-14, the clubs have gone nearly a decade without a spring showdown. Instead, the Bruins have done battle on a regular basis with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning (two playoff series against each since 2018).

“There will always be a rivalry because of the history with Montreal,” said Marchand. “There’s times where nowadays the rivalries are made during playoffs and we haven’t necessarily played them as much in playoffs lately as maybe in the past. Depending on where teams are in playoff positions and all that – for Montreal, they’re younger and building and they’re gonna be a really, really good team in the future. They have some incredible talent coming up.

“But right now, we’re in a little bit of a different position and we’ve played Toronto and Tampa a little more in playoffs recently. I feel more of a rivalry with Toronto and Tampa now than Montreal just because all three are contending teams and we’ve had some really good playoff battles over the last few years.”

Video: Marchand talks before the Bruins play the Canadiens 

Hall Making Progress

Taylor Hall, out since Feb. 25 with a lower-body injury, hit the ice with the team for a third straight day on Thursday morning during an optional pregame skate as he continues to progress toward a return to game action.

“Honest to God, he looks really, really good,” Montgomery said on Wednesday. “He’s skating out there, he’s flying like he usually does. So, I know there’s some more steps that have to happen, but he does look good.”

Montgomery added that he was not yet sure if Hall would return to the lineup before the end of the regular season.

“He’s got some hurdles here in the process of return to play to go through,” said Montgomery. “Not certain either way. I don’t have a definitive answer there.”

Video: Montgomery talks with the media before BOS vs. MTL

Wait, There’s More

Video: Russo talks 1-on-1 with Swayman, pres. by Warrior 

Thursday’s Projected Lineup 

FORWARDS

Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Jake DeBrusk

Pavel Zacha – David Krejci – David Pastrnak

Tyler Bertuzzi – Charlie Coyle – Trent Frederic

A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Garnet Hathaway

DEFENSEMEN

Matt Grzelcyk – Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm – Dmitry Orlov

Jakub Zboril – Connor Clifton

GOALIES

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark

Video: Russo and Sirott talk Honda Keys to the Game vs. MTL