Boston Bruins (14-10-2, fourth in the Atlantic) vs. Montreal Canadiens (7-21-3, seventh in the Atlantic)
Montreal; Saturday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Montreal hosts the Boston Bruins after the Canadiens knocked off Philadelphia 3-2 in a shootout.
The Canadiens are 2-5-1 against division opponents. Montreal ranks seventh in the Eastern Conference with 29.4 shots per game and is averaging 2.1 goals.
The Bruins are 6-3-1 in division matchups. Boston averages 8.3 penalty minutes per game, the 10th-most in the Eastern Conference. Brad Marchand leads the team serving 38 total minutes.
In their last meeting on Nov. 14, Boston won 5-2. Charlie McAvoy recorded a team-high 2 points for the Bruins.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nicholas Suzuki leads the Canadiens with 18 points, scoring six goals and registering 12 assists. Jonathan Drouin has three goals and three assists over the last 10 games for Montreal.
Marchand leads the Bruins with 16 total assists and has 27 points. Patrice Bergeron has 8 points over the last 10 games for Boston.
LAST 10 GAMES: Canadiens: 2-7-1, averaging 1.9 goals, 3.1 assists, 3.4 penalties and 7.7 penalty minutes while giving up 3.2 goals per game with a .913 save percentage.
Bruins: 4-4-2, averaging two goals, 3.2 assists, 3.6 penalties and 8.3 penalty minutes while allowing 2.2 goals per game with a .931 save percentage.
INJURIES: Canadiens: Christian Dvorak: out (lower-body).
Bruins: Jeremy Swayman: out (covid-19), Brandon Carlo: day to day (lower body), Trent Frederic: out (covid-19), Anton Blidh: out (covid-19), Patrice Bergeron: out (covid-19).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Associated Press