Old rivals set to renew acquaintances in Canadiens, Bruins grudge match

Capitalism being what it is, the business opportunity presented by a spot of handshake-line surliness was swiftly pounced upon.

In the hours after the Montreal Canadiens' Game 7 elimination of the Boston Bruins last spring, a new T-shirt appeared on the hawking stands near the TD Garden.

It read: "good game, good game, good game, I'm going to [expletive deleted] kill you, good game, good game."

Never let it be said the swag vendors of Boston aren't a clever lot.

Fast-forward five months or so, and it's time for the old rivals to renew acquaintances on the occasion of Montreal's home opener.

Habs winger Dale Weise, the main object of the aforementioned threat, has not suddenly felt the urge to boost his life insurance and prefers not to talk about it – the remark was delivered by Boston's Milan Lucic and in fairness was of the see-you-at-the-bike-racks-after-school variety.

Besides, grudge matches never live up to the hype, right?

"I had one in Vancouver, actually, after the [2011] Stanley Cup final," the Winnipeg-born Weise said. "We played Boston for the first time and we had a line brawl seven minutes in. So I think the fans, the media and everybody got what they wanted there. I don't see that being the case [Thursday]."

Grudges can linger, but nurturing playoff-level animosity is no easy task in mid-October, especially when you're fumbling around in search of your best hockey. Both clubs clearly are.

Besides, both teams have retooled significantly: For example, former Boston tough guy Shawn Thornton – who memorably squirted Montreal's P.K. Subban with water from the bench late in Game 5 – is no longer part of the equation.

Lucic, still looking for his first point heading into Wednesday's action, could well be in an ornery mood, but it's not something Weise is worried about.

For those who may have forgotten, the latter ignited the burly Boston winger's ire by mock-flexing his arm after a whistle – itself a response to an earlier provocation. You can see how these things degenerate.

"I don't expect anything, he's a guy who plays hard every night, an intense guy," he said, adding the handshake incident was "blown all out of proportion."

Habs forward Brendan Gallagher, who is good friends with Lucic and trains with him in the summer, said the rivalry wasn't a frequent topic of conversation at the gym.

"In the summer you put that aside. The cool part about it is after doing battle with a guy for seven games, you're able to train beside him, you know exactly what you're training for – to be in that situation again," he said.

Whether or not you believe players nurture grievances or plot their terrible revenge, the Habs/Bruins rivalry feels like an appropriate jumping-off point for the home portion of the Montreal schedule.

After being pasted in their last game against Tampa Bay – whom they swept before facing Boston – the Habs are looking to get the vessel pointed in the right direction.

There is early-season evidence to support the claim that the Bruins may be a team in decline, or at least an aging squad that's going to have a lot of trouble scoring goals, but it seems obvious Montreal's playoff path will lead them through both Tampa and Boston at some point.

And if the Habs are going to demonstrate that they belong in the conversation when it comes to the Eastern Conference's elite, it would be helpful to beat the perennial-contender Bruins.

Despite the fact they are 3-1 after a season-opening road trip, there is no sense of satisfaction in the Montreal room.

The Habs trailed in each game, their first periods were garbage, the power play produced squat (0-for-14) and the generally stingy defensive system (eighth-best in the NHL last year at 2.45 goals against a game) leaked to the tune of 14 goals.

Sample sizes are still too small to draw meaningful conclusions, but coach Michel Therrien was determined to put his team through a vigorous practice on Wednesday. It included considerable time working out kinks in the power play – including entries, puck battles and regroups.

"We feel good about ourselves obviously, you're not going to go the whole year without scoring a power-play goal," said Max Pacioretty, the team's leading scorer last year.

He's surely right. If his prediction comes true on Thursday, it could go a long way to pulling another one over on the Bruins.