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Tuesday, 12 April 2011 18:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

(3) Bruins vs. (6) Canadiens

Bruins Leading Regular Season Scorer: Milan Lucic (right), 62 points (30 goals, 32 assists).

Canadiens Leading Postseason Scorer: Tomas Plekanec, 57 points (22 goals, 57 assists).

Bruins Regular Season Statistics

Canadiens Regular Season Statistics

Bruins with Stanley Cup bling: Mark Recchi, Shawn Thornton.

Canadiens with Stanley Cup bling: Hal Gill, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Travis Moen, Brent Sopel.

Something worthwhile about the Canadiens: The Canadiens went 7-7-1 to finish the season.

Something useless about the Bruins that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: The last player to recort a postseason hat trick against the Bruins was former Penguins forward Kevin Stevens who had four goals in a 5-1 win in Game 3 of the 1992 Wales Conference Final.

Something useless about the Canadiens that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: Former Penguins forward Pierre Larouche holds the Canadiens single-season franchise record for goals by a center. He had 50 in 1979-80.

Former Penguins on the Bruins: Andrew Ference, D; Mark Recchi, RW.

Former Penguins on the Canadiens: Hal Gill (right), D.

Who needs to be the difference for the Bruins: Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton. The Bruins only won two games this season against the Canadiens but in those two games, they extracted a physical toll on Montreal. Lucic and Horton are big power forwards and need to make life miserable for Canadiens goaltender Carey Price.

Who needs to be the difference for the Canadiens: Hal Gill, P.K. Subban, Roman Hamrlik. The Canadiens were able to upset the Capitals and Penguins in last year's postseason because their defense did a marvelous job of collapsing around the net and blocking or preventing shots. They'll need an encore peformance again this year.

Best Bruins YouTube Video We Could Find: Former Bruins forward Cam Neely air mailing a slapper from outside the blue line behind Canadiens goaltender Patrick Roy in Game 7 of the 1991 Adams Division final.

Best Sabres YouTube Video We Could Find: Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur cranking a slapper by Bruins goaltender Gilles Gilbert in Game seven of a semifinal series:

EN Prediction: These aren't the same Canadiens who blocked shot after shot in last year's playoffs. Defenseman Josh Gorges is on the sideline due to an injury and goaltender Jaroslav Halak is in St. Louis. Carey Price has had a good season as Montreal's undisputed starter in net, but he's not Halak in terms of clutch goaltending. The Bruins' physical edge and depth on defense will give them an edge over their rivals. Bruins 4-2.

(Photos: Lucic-Elsa/Getty Images; Gill-Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

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