Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens: Habs Win 10th straight over B's to Move Into Top Spot

Where's Andy Moog when you need him? Or at least Alex Auld?

The Boston Bruins, who are fighting to hang on to a playoff berth, lost yet another game to the hated Montreal Canadiens in an Original Six battle on Thursday night at TD Banknorth Garden.

The Bruins fell 4-2, losing to the Habs for the 10th straight time, seventh in seven tries this season.

The Canadiens have outscored Boston 36-14 this season and have moved back into top spot in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the idle New Jersey Devils. Montreal, with 41 wins now this season, has 92 points.

This B's-Habs rivalry hasn't been this one-sided since the mid-1940s, when Montreal also reeled off the end of its 10 straight wins over the Bruins 63 years earlier.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas—who hasn't beaten the Canadiens since a 3-1 victory on March 3, 2007—was victimized once again.

Moog, who played for the Bruins from 1988 to the end of the 1992-93 season, and was known as a "Hab killer" for beating Montreal consistently, wouldn't have lost this many times to the Canadiens.

But a potential savior who didn't get to see any action on Thursday was the Bruins' current backup goaltender, Auld.

Auld, who suffered two shootout losses and another overtime defeat despite a 1.16 goals-against average in his last five outings, was on the bench even after sensational  play in the Bruins' last game, a 2-1 setback against the Capitals in DC.

Against the Canadiens, the Bruins didn't get a lift despite captain Zdeno Chara's return to the lineup after missing the previous five games with an upper torso injury. In fact, Chara looked bad in the Bruins' zone on the first two goals of the game, but still managed to log nearly 25 minutes of ice time for the contest.

Thomas, who went into the contest with a goals-against average of 5.07 in his previous four outings, at least improved on those numbers. He allowed four goals on 30 shots, including two spectacular goals by Alexei Kovalev to open the scoring in the second period.

Kovalev, the game's first star and the Canadiens' leading scorer, now has 33 goals on the season. He added an assist in the third period on Andrei Kostitsyn's 22nd of the year, which made the score 4-1 in favor of the Canadiens.

Kovalev now has seven goals and 11 points against the B's this season.

Rookie Carey Price was again solid in the Habs' net, finishing with 34 saves. Price, who must seem like a modern-day Ken Dryden to Bruins fans, is unbeaten in his career against Boston.

Boston remains seventh in the Eastern Conference with 83 points, just a single point ahead of eighth-place Philadelphia and only two up on ninth-place Buffalo. Washington and Florida, with 80 and 79 points respectively, are within reach as well.

The Bruins, who had an impressive six-game winning streak just less than three weeks ago, have just two victories in 10 games since then. And in those two wins—against the Capitals on Saturday, March 8 and versus the Flyers exactly one week later—the Bruins had to come back late in the game just to tie it before ultimately getting the winner.

Should the Bruins fall into eighth place and hook up with the Canadiens in the playoffs, Boston won't have a chance. Heck, even if Boston does hang on to its seventh spot and Montreal somehow falls to second, they'll still meet in the postseason for an NHL record 31st time.

The last time the B's went winless in the regular season against the Habs, in the 1988-89 season, Boston fell easily to them in the second round and Montreal cruised on to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Bruins were only truly successful against the Canadiens during the Andy Moog era, when Boston eliminated Montreal four times in five seasons (1987-88 to 1991-92) in the playoffs, and even won in 1994 with Jon Casey. Since then, the Bruins have bowed out to their long-time rivals in the 2001-02 and 2003-04 playoffs, both times in humiliating fashion.

For a Bruins fan, the team might as well miss the playoffs if they continue to embarrass themselves on a daily basis like the way things have gone this month, and especially the way the season series with Montreal has gone this year.

Not only have the B's looked bad against the Canadiens this season, they have also endured 10-2 and 8-2 debacles to the Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs respectively in the last three weeks.

In the meantime, the Bruins are off until Saturday night, when they get another shot against the Habs in Montreal.

Will it be 11 straight?