On Thursday Night, the well-covered Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens rivalry makes its season debut. Last season, the matchup was completly reversed from the previous year, with the Bruins going 5-0-1 against their hated rivals. However, much has changed with both teams. Montreal has completly revamped their lineup after the departures of Captain Saku Koivu, forward Alexi Kovalev, and forward Chris Higgins. With those players out, GM Bob Gainey signed three new wingers: Center Scott Gomez, LW Mike Cammalleri, and forward Brian Gionta. Each of these players have shown great scoring touch in the past, and have had decent seasons thus far. On the Bruins side, the big departure of the off-season was Phil Kessel, who was traded to Toronto for a slew of draft picks (which is looking pretty nice so far for the B's, as Toronto has only one win). Unfortunately, the Bruins are currently faced with hey injuries to point-leader Marc Savard, and fiesty forward Milan Lucic. Montreal is also facing the injury bug with D Andrei Markov out for a couple months.

As for the matchup itself, it will be a good one, as always is between the B's and Habs. Boston finds themselves in the middle of a scoring drought, with only 2 goals scored in the past 3 games, getting shut out in the past 2. Look for C Patrice Bergeron to break the drought, as he has led the team with 8 points thus far. Either Tim Thomas or Tuukka Rask will get the start in net for the Bruins, and each have had solid seasons. On the Montreal side, look for C/RW Maxime Lapierre to stick out in the game. Lapierre shines in this matchup, and is also a physical pest to Boston. Carey Price will most likely start in net for the Habs.
My Prediction: The Bruins will come out on top in this first meeting of the long time rivals with a final score of 3-2. The game will be decided late in the third period after a hard fought battle.