Montreal Canadiens plays host to the Boston Bruins in Game 4 – NHL Previews
The fourth game of the quarterfinals’ series between Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens will be played at the Center Bell Arena this Thursday. The series has been very exciting thus far with Canadiens leading by 2-1.
The first two games saw Canadiens winning by 2-0 and 3-1, respectively. The interesting thing about this tie which continued was that neither of the teams has been able to win on home which was proven as Bruins won the third game to trail 1-2 in the series.
Bruins took a day off after its last game and preferred to free its minds rather than showing up on ice and practicing.
Bruins was expected to come up with a strong fight in the offence but this hasn’t happened in Bruins’ department of offence so far.
In fact, Bruins is going through the toughest times during the playoffs as it has failed to score any goals out of the 11 power-plays coming its way. This is what hurt them in the first two games against a Canadiens’ side that is all geared up with killer
power-play players.
"We need to get this thing going, and hopefully, better", bruins’ coach, Claude Julien, said after Wednesday's 75-minute practice. "But you also understand that in the playoff, PK seem to be trumping the power plays. We've done a pretty good job against
Montreal. When you play a team over and over again, you find out the tendencies, so it's a little better than playing just one game and moving on to the next team during the regular season".
Bruins is a team that has a lot of talent and has the game winning players but each and every time it seems to crumble when it comes under pressure.
This is no different where it needs to win and level the series if it wants to keep hopes of semifinals alive.
Canadiens has been facing problems due to injuries. However, it will be glad to find out that one of its key players, Jeff Halpern, is returning back from injury.
He missed the last four games of the regular season and the first three games of the series due to an injury he sustained on his lower body.
Halpern is loaded with tons of experience and has a lot of talent. This veteran player still has the capability of coming up with game changing performances that can certainly prove to be beneficiary for Canadiens.
"I'm starting to figure (Boston center) Krejci out a little bit", said Lars Eller. "But having Halpern there is a good safety to have".
If Canadiens win then it will be one win away from the semifinals while Bruins needs to win and level the series as it comes closer to the end of the quarterfinals.
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