Boston Bruins: 5 Biggest Games on the January Schedule

The Boston Bruins will face all four of their 2011 postseason opponents in the first month of 2012. At least two of those rematches have the existing potential to constitute a playoff preview, as do a couple of other games on the January docket.

Both the quantity of extramural engagements, including 12 in a span of 21 days, and the quality of the opposition, even some of those currently out of the playoff picture, could make for the season’s most trying stretch to date.

The Bruins will have three cases of back-to-back games and four sets of three games in four nights this month. And barring radical shifts in the landscape, they will confront three of their fellow division leaders, maybe even both of the co-leaders of the Atlantic Division.

All of those four titanic tangles plus one unconditionally undying rivalry constitute the following five highlights of the coming month.

January 7 vs. Vancouver

Will six-and-a-half months be long enough for the animosity to subside? Does it matter either way?

Potentially not. While it is all but unfathomable it never hurts to prepare for the possibility of a genuine Stanley Cup finals rematch in June 2012. After all, both of these teams have already cleared the worst of their hangovers and are once again leading their divisions and running up broad goals for-goals against differentials.

Odds are one or both parties will simply prove to be human and run out of fuel before this year’s conference champions are crowned. But in case that does not happen, this game is their only chance to set, or reset, the tone.

January 12 vs. Montreal

Extraordinarily, this will be one of only two Northeast Division games for the Bruins this month, the other one being a visit from the Senators Jan. 31.

Between now and this get-together at the Garden, the Canadiens have a three-game homestand and with it a chance to compress the bleeding of a 1-7-0 cold streak.

Even if they sweep that troika, the Habs will still be no higher than 10th place in the Eastern Conference when they pay their last visit to Boston for this regular season. And between now and then only Ottawa has a chance to supplant the Bruins for first place in the division.

The home masses will doubtlessly be salivating for a rare opportunity to replenish the potion of 2008-09. Will the men in black and gold uniform echo that desire?

January 16 at Florida

As is the case in the Montreal matchup, the Bruins will vie to bust a tie in their season series with a conference cohabitant. Like the Canadiens, the Panthers might be trending downward, but that is all the more reason for the Bruins to be on high alert and not give away free traction to a fledgling adversary.

January 21 vs. New York Rangers

Things can change over the next three weeks, but the Bruins and Blueshirts could still constitute the NHL’s two stingiest defensive clubs when they finally commence their four-game season series. As if this traditionally tight-fisted matchup couldn’t clench up any further.

As easy as it is to claim that the Bruins will post a measuring stick for the rising Rangers, the vice versa is equally true. After all, Boston currently boasts both the league’s top defense and offense, but that strike force has yet to face a regular Bruins’ nemesis in Henrik Lundqvist.

And if these teams were to cross paths in the postseason with stat lines similar to what they have now, Lundqvist could very well be to this Boston team what Tim Thomas was to a titanic Vancouver club last June. For good measure, the Bruins will want to set a tone in the regular season and also match the intensity of New York’s particularly hard-hitting squad of skaters.

January 22 at Philadelphia

This will be the third and certainly the most intense instance of back-to-back game days for the Bruins this month. A little less than 24 hours after the home matinee against the Rangers concludes they will square off with another part of the three-headed monster that is the Atlantic Division.

Last time around, on the same site at Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers had neither top gun Claude Giroux in body nor much of their other potent scorers in spirit. Boston needs to be ready to muzzle a pack of starving hounds in the second half of a potential statement weekend.