Game against Canadiens may be just what Bruins need

BOSTON -- From most practical perspectives, it's not a head-to-head battle with many, or even any, long-term implications.

The Bruins, although their lead atop the NHL and Atlantic Division has shrunk, are going to qualify for the playoffs. The Canadiens, despite a nice recent run, face long odds.

It's still Bruins-Canadiens, though, and while 19 points may separate the teams in the standings, Wednesday's game at TD Garden comes at a good time for the [...]

BOSTON -- From most practical perspectives, it's not a head-to-head battle with many, or even any, long-term implications.

The Bruins, although their lead atop the NHL and Atlantic Division has shrunk, are going to qualify for the playoffs. The Canadiens, despite a nice recent run, face long odds.

It's still Bruins-Canadiens, though, and while 19 points may separate the teams in the standings, Wednesday's game at TD Garden comes at a good time for the Bruins. What better team is there to beat, after all, than the team you've disliked the most, for the longest?

“Oh yeah, I didn't like them,” Walpole, Mass., native Chris Wagner said of the Canadiens on the day before the 750th all-time B's-Habs regular-season matchup. “You kind of had to feel that way around here -- like with the Yankees. You just don't like them.”

And when you've just lost to a team you should have beaten, there's no team like an arch rival to get you right back on your game.

“To us, it's always about going back and worrying about the game in front of us, and I think we've done a very good job of that lately,” said B's center Patrice Bergeron. “But we're also facing a team that doesn't take much to get ready for. It's always fun to play against Montreal. They're always tough games, but also fun for fans and everybody.”

The Bruins, coming off Sunday's 3-1 loss to the dead-last Red Wings at Detroit, can put all their eggs into one basket for the Habs. They've had two days off since Sunday's loss, and get two game-free days before they have to play again on Saturday, at home against the Wings. That matinee will kick off the Bruins' fourth set of games on consecutive days since they returned from their Jan. 22-30 All-Star/bye week break. They're in New York on Sunday afternoon to start a four-game road trip.

While the B's had held up well over their quirky post-break schedule, it bit them on Sunday. After wrapping up their 4-1 decision over the Canucks at the Garden a little bit before 6 p.m., they were on the ice in Detroit at 12:30 in Detroit, and while their bodies were willing — except that of scheduled starting goalie Jaroslav Halak — their heads weren't.

“I don't like to make excuses,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy, “but I think Sunday it showed up a little bit — mentally, not physically.

“I thought we had our legs, competed hard. We just didn't execute like we typically do. We missed some open nets, fumbled a few pucks, missed some plays. I think it caught up to us then.”

And that loss, which snapped a six-game winning streak, gave the second-place Lightning a chance to make gains in their bid to catch up to the Bruins. They took advantage with a 2-1, overtime decision against the Blue Jackets on Monday to stretch their own winning streak to seven games and pull within three points of the B's. Tampa Bay has also played one fewer game than the Bruins.

Cassidy isn't panicking, though. After a weak December (6-4-5) that rolled into a poor start to January, he liked the way the Bruins played their final three games before the break (2-1-0), and was just as glad to see them come back out of the gate with five straight wins. Included were sweeps of two sets of back-to-backs.

“I think there's a handful of teams that, if you ranked how important that break was, I've got to believe we'd be up there with the top few teams,” the coach said. “We needed it. It came at a good time for us, and I think it's showed in our play since. Coming out of it, I like where we are in terms of our 60-minute effort.”

Around the boards

Halak, a late scratch on Sunday because of a nagging upper-body injury, went through Monday's full practice. Cassidy is leaning toward starting Halak on Sunday in New York (3:30 p.m. start), to give him Saturday evening and Sunday morning to receive any treatment he may need. … Defenseman Connor Clifton went through his first full-contact practice since suffering an upper-body injury on Dec. 29, but Cassidy said Clifton won't be ready to play on Wednesday. … Winger Joakim Nordstrom, out for the last four games with issues related to allergies, is expected to return against the Canadiens.