Despite their inconsistencies this season, the Canadiens have been known to rise to the level of their opposition.
And with a game against the high-flying Boston Bruins Thursday night at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS TSN Radio-690, 98.5 FM) that could augur well for Montreal before it embarks on a five-game road trip.
On the other hand, Brendan Gallagher lives for the day teams ascend to the level of the Canadiens’ play.
“There’s times you want to be talking about teams rising to the level of your play,” Gallagher said after Wednesday’s practice at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard. “It’s great that we’re able to raise our game and it’ll be another thing when we consistently do it. Then we’ll be competing with those teams at the end of the year. I think that’s probably the next step for our group to take.
“That’s what every team’s striving for,” he added. “You want to be the team that teams are getting ready to play against. Obviously the last couple of years that hasn’t been the case, but we’re really moving in the right direction. Hopefully we’re pushing and growing towards that.”
The Canadiens (25-30-10) will miss the playoffs again this season, although they’re coming off a 3-0 victory on Tuesday against Columbus, another struggling team. It was only Montreal’s second victory in six games — and third over a 15-game span — although it lost twice in shootouts at Florida and Tampa Bay, while being edged 3-2 by Toronto last Saturday.
“I feel we’re definitely a group that’s very alert when we know (who) we’re going against,” head coach Martin St. Louis said. “I can’t say (Tuesday) our play dipped because of where Columbus was in the standings. We had a heck of a start. When you’re playing against a team that’s down three, they’re chasing the game now and they come out and they start playing shinny hockey a little bit, which is hard to play against.
“I wouldn’t say it’s uncharted territory, but we’re rarely up three, that early. The hockey that’s being played isn’t what we prepared for because they’re chasing the game and doing things differently.”
Nonetheless, the Bruins (38-14-15) are second in the Atlantic Division and should pose a more formidable challenge than did the Blue Jackets. Boston is 3-1-1 in its last five, although it’s coming off a surprising 5-1 home-ice loss to St. Louis on Monday.
This is the fourth and final meeting this season between Boston and Montreal, with the home club winning each time. The Canadiens were drubbed 9-4 on Jan. 20, but only trailed by a goal heading into the third period, when the Bruins scored four unanswered goals, chasing Samuel Montembeault from the net.
Despite Cayden Primeau’s second shutout this season against Columbus, Montembeault will get the start against Boston.
“Players are proud and they’re coming into our building,” St. Louis said. “The two nights we were there this year I feel they were honouring something. The second game we played there (in January) we were pretty good. Not perfect, but we were battling. The third period was what it was. The guys will remember that.”
The nine goals Montreal allowed was a season-high, so motivation shouldn’t be a problem, according to Gallagher.
“It’s a fun game to be in any time you play Boston, especially at home,” he said. “It’s a game in which we want to show up, regardless of how the last game went for us. We’ve been playing some decent hockey. Hopefully we can carry that through. I’m aware of the history between the two teams.”
While Gallagher, 31, has struggled at times this season, he opened the scoring — his 11th goal — against the Blue Jackets in his 60th game. The pesky winger hasn’t hit double digits in goals since the 2020-21 season and hasn’t played this many games since 2018-19. The small cut on his left eyelid and welt on his left cheekbone Wednesday, memories from the night before, served as testament that Gallagher hasn’t change his style of play.
“I haven’t lost confidence,” he said. “For the most part I feel pretty good. Right now it’s going well. There was some good and some bad for me so far. I wanted to stay healthy and be a reliable teammate. Be in the lineup every night. The last couple of years I’ve felt good, honestly. If you stay in the lineup consistently, everything kind of takes care of itself.”
Five players — Josh Anderson, Mike Matheson, Tanner Pearson, David Savard and Juraj Slafkovsky — received therapy days and didn’t practise on Wednesday.
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