NHL: Bruins reversing terrible trend
What a difference a year makes. Just one season after the Boston Bruins were beaten up and down the ice by the Montreal Canadiens every time they played, the B's are reversing the terrible trend against the long-time divisional rival.
Boston is 2-1 against Montreal this season as they head into Tuesday night's nationally televised matchup on VERSUS and they host the Canadiens having won three of the last four games played at TD Banknorth Garden.
That makes the B's an interesting wager for this meeting. Get the odds for this exciting matchup and all 11 games on the NHL schedule for Tuesday on our Live Odds page.
It was just last year's opening playoff round when the Canadiens won their 13th-straight game over their rival to take a 2-0 series lead. The winning streak had started at the end of the previous year.
The Habs appeared destined to sweep that series but a young, gritty Bruins team won three of the next four games to force a seventh and deciding game. And while Boston was eliminated in that seventh game, they have used the experience and confidence gained in that series to catapult them to the top of the NHL Standings.
Entering Tuesday's game, Boston is second in the entire league, just a point behind the San Jose Sharks, for the most points overall. More impressive than that, the Bruins have just seven regulation losses in 42 games.
That's a far cry from the Boston team that was kicking around the league's basement for a few seasons. The reason behind the turnaround; young players developing into top-notch talent.
Centerman David Krejci is just 22 years of age but is second in team scoring with 16 goals and 30 assists. Right winger, Phil Kessel is just 21 years-old and is third in team scoring with 24 goals and 17 assists while left winger Blake Wheeler has 13 goals and 14 assists in his rookie season.
Then, there's 6'4" winger Milan Lucic. The 20-year-old has developed into a physical force that no-one wants to play against, bringing memories of Cam Neely dominating opponents years ago. Along with his 26 points, Lucic has 86 penalty minutes and is an impressive +16 in plus/minus.
Add these young players to the veterans on the team, and the solid goaltending duo of Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez and you have a recipe for success.
Boston coach Claude Julien has done a terrific job as well. His team leads the league with an average of 3.62 goals scored per game and is giving up just 2.14 goals against per game, also tops in the league.
Boston backers are also thrilled with the team's work ethic, as they are rarely out-worked by another team and when you have a highly talented team that shows up ready to play hard every night, bettors are bound to have a profitable season.
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Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
