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There's nothing like a little hockey hatred to warm the cockles of your heart as Christmas approaches. Familiarity definitely breeds contempt and its breeding plenty between the Bruins and Canadiens.
|  | | McLaren's hit on Zednik sent the Habs forward to the hospital with a broken nose and concussion. |
Saturday night will mark the third meeting between the clubs in just 16 days. The Bruins put a hurtin' on the Habs the day after Thanksgiving in a 4-2 win at the FleetCenter. The Canadiens returned the favor last Tuesday, winning by an identical score. This matchup will serve as the rubber game -- at least until February when they go at it again. Then, they'll see each other twice in a six-day span. They square off in Boston on February 6 and they are in Montreal on February 11, at which point the Eastern Conference race might be a little more clear.
The Canadiens have not yet gotten over Kyle McLaren's hit on Richard Zednik that helped ignite their upset of the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs last spring. And the Bruins haven't gotten over their embarrassing exit. That has become the proverbial carrot that has helped drive their impressive start.
Let's face it, for a while there, the storied rivalry was on life support and the patients' prognosis wasn't good. Prior to last season, the Bruins had missed the postseason three out of five seasons. The Canadiens, whose front office was a revolving door as they attempted to recover from life without Patrick Roy, were on the outside looking in at the playoffs for three straight years -- 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
Now, both franchises have stabilized and the result is the passion is back. The first two meetings have resembled the old Adams Division clashes and Saturday's promises to be more of the same.
The latest brouhaha occurred Tuesday night in Boston when the Canadiens believed that Bruins' captain Joe Thornton pitchforked Andrei Markov. Thornton wasn't penalized, but he was ultimately fined $1,000. To hear coach Michel Therrien tell it, Thornton should have been hung by his skates outside Le Centre Bell. To hear Thornton tell it, Markov is hockey's version of Greg Louganis, or at least a close second to Darcy Tucker.
Thornton joked that he didn't care about the money because he received a pay raise this year as part of a one-year contract extension, but he thought Markov was making a mockery of the game and he wasn't impressed with Therrien's antics either.
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CHIRPIN'
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"He was a slob when he was a teenager. But his house is in good order, I must say. I was impressed. He really looks after things. Dany's 21, so his mother and I still worry about him. But once you get down here, you see he's doing just fine."
-- Dany Heatley's father, Murray, on his son's transition to life on his own in Atlanta.
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THE NUMBER(S)
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That's the New York Islanders' record against the Chicago Blackhawks in their last 22 meetings. The last time the Islanders were on the winning side was Jan. 25, 1997, when they didn't dare lose on Al Arbour Night.
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WHO'S HOT
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Toronto's Ed Belfour had his shutout streak against the Flyers snapped at 87:10 on Thursday. He had beaten the Flyers by scores of 6-0 and 3-0 this season and stopped 69 shots before Simon Gagne's goal. It marked Philadelphia's first win against the netminder since last Dec. 20, when he was with Dallas. Before the loss, Belfour had improved his numbers to a 2.07 goals-against average and .925 save percentage.
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WHO'S NOT
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Tampa Bay's Nikolai Khabibulin redeemed himself in Thursday's win over Montreal, but prior to that, Khabibulin had won only two of 10 previous starts, posting a 3.12 GAA and .909 save percentage in that span. Against Minnesota on Tuesday, he was pulled after surrendering three goals on three shots.
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THIS WEEK'S SIGN ...
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... the Earth is off its axis: Every trade rumor in the universe seems to be "whoever" to Colorado for Alex Tanguay and Martin Skoula. First it was Boston's Martin Lapointe, now it's New Jersey's Patrik Elias. Maybe the Avalanche front office should go shopping on ebay.
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"Everybody knew it was a dive so that's why I only got a $1,000 fine," he said. "He doesn't know what he's talking about some days. He likes to talk just to talk. He just tries to protect his players and it's unfortunate that he protects his players who dive. When guys dive like that, it's unfortunate because it just takes the integrity of the game away."
Last year's Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Jose Theodore, a huge disappointment this year so far, is expected to be in net for Montreal on Saturday. But Boston, which has played poorly the last several games, doesn't care who is between the pipes. They are still smarting from the pain of last spring when the expectations were so high and the outcome so low.
"As crazy as it sounds, I think what happened in the playoffs last year is in the back of our minds this year," said veteran defenseman Sean O'Donnell. "So it doesn't matter where we are [in the standings]. We know we have to stay on an even keel because we finished first in the East last year and it didn't matter. It's all a buildup to the playoffs. We're not getting too high because it comes down to what we do in the playoffs. After what happened last year, it keeps you pretty humble."
Welcome back to the rivalry, Bruins and Canadiens. It's been far too long.
A sort of homecoming
Speaking of Montreal, the Bruins aren't the only ones who get up for their matchups against the Habs. It was a homecoming of sorts when the Tampa Bay Lightning rode into town against the Canadiens. Martin St. Louis, who is having an impressive year, is a Laval, Quebec, native and potted the winning goal against the Habs on Thursday night in a 3-2 decision. Vincent Lecavalier, who hails from Ile-Bizard, had an assist and Brad Richards, who toiled for three seasons with Rimouski in the Quebec Junior League, racked up three points.
"We were all up for this," said Richards. "They're from here and I played here three years so we're always ready to play here. It's just the tradition and the city and the people, it's fun to play here."
Taming a Devil
Devils' veteran Scott Stevens went through his angry-young-man stage a long time ago. Still intense and competitive, though, Stevens is now guiding the young blueliners on the team. He's been teaching Colin White that a fire in the belly is a good thing -- except when it reaches the point where it becomes an out-of-control raging inferno.
"When Colin gets mad, he tends to go after the person he's ticked at,'' explained Stevens. "To have a temper is not bad when you first come into the league because people will give you a little more room but it's hard to curb that. This year, he has become a very consistent player and sometimes that comes by having the right temper. He's curbed his temper."
Even coach Pat Burns is impressed with the new and improved White.
"He's a guy I heard all kinds of horror stories about because of his discipline,'' said Burns. ``But he's been our most improved defenseman this year. He's kept his cool."
If a Buffalo falls in the forrest ...
Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff must feel like he's in purgatory. But at least not too many people are watching the suffering. The club, floundering in the NHL basement, lost to Ottawa in front of a record-low crowd -- 9,966 -- at the HSBC Center on Tuesday. It was the latest example that Ruff has been putting in a far greater effort than his players.
"If we execute like that, we don't have a chance," said the beleaguered bench boss. "That might have been the poorest game we've played, starting from our own end, where our passing and puck movement and turnovers, we didn't have a chance of generating anything with the way our defense played."
Depth chart
From the way the Maple Leafs started, you would've thought the fans and media were getting ready to storm the palace, er, Air Canada Centre. But all appears to be forgiven, at least for the moment. Despite the team's hiccup in a 2-1 loss to Philadelphia on Thursday, the team went into that game with an 8-2-0-0 record in their previous 10. The Curtis Joseph ranting has been reduced to less than a whisper.
You can expect that Donald Audette, who was so effective against the Bruins in last year's playoff meeting, will be out of the doghouse at least for Saturday's rematch at the Bell Centre. Audette has felt Michel Therrien's wrath as a healthy scratch and although Therrien said he planned no roster changes -- barring someone pulling up lame -- reportedly Audette will be in and another disappointing producer -- Mariusz Czerkawski -- will be out.
The Maple Leafs will be living out of suitcases for a while. Of their first 28 games, only nine were on the road. When they played in Philly on Thursday, they became the last team in the NHL to log double digit games away from home. Of their next 15, 10 are on the road. "The way the schedule is set up, we pay a price because we're Canadians and we can take the home games when football and baseball are going on," said coach Pat Quinn. "Then [the US teams] get them at the end of the season and you'd rather have a better balance."
The Flyers, who beat Toronto on Thursday, are the NHL's only team that is undefeated when scoring the first goal (11-0-5).
It's hard to keep track of the devastating injuries on the Penguins' roster. The latest casualty is right wing Aleksey Morozov, who suffered a broken right wrist on Tuesday. He's expected to be out 6-8 weeks. He joined left wing Steve McKenna (elbow infection), left wing Dan Lacouture (concussion), right wing Shean Donovan (foot), defenseman Dick Tarnstrom (foot), Michal Rozsival (shoulder) and Josef Melichar (shoulder) on the very crowded sidelines.
Rumors abound that Thrashers' captain Shawn McEachern will be traded. The team was hoping to right its ship with the signing of goalie Byron Dafoe, but it's been an uphill battle. The club was up 2-0 on the Coyotes but wound up losing 4-2. "We can't give teams like that a chance to get back in the game," said McEachern. "We were more
worried about scoring a third goal than keeping them from scoring any. We have to play better defense."
You've got to love the candor of Dany Heatley's father, Murray (see additional quote below). Heatley and his dad recently attended a Bruce Springsteen concert at Philips Arena and the elder Heatley wanted to let the rest of his family in Calgary know what a good time he was having. "I called home from the concert and Mark, my other son, answered," Murray said . "I wanted them to hear the Boss. But I don't think they knew who it was."
Heading into Thursday, there were droughts aplenty afflicting last spring's Stanley Cup runnerup. Hurricanes forward Jeff O'Neill had one goal in his past six games and a total of just eight all year. Jaroslav Svoboda had zero goals in 20 games and -- astoundingly -- was on the ice for three second-period goals by Edmonton, despite playing just 2:15 of the period. The team was starved for goals and in their 10 games without Sami Kapanen were a woeful 1-6-2-1.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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