The Bruce Cassidy era in Boston is off to a nice start.
The Bruins are 2-0-0 since Cassidy took over as interim head coach when Claude Julien was fired last Tuesday, but his toughest test is Sunday night at TD Garden when the B’s host the first-place Montreal Canadiens.
Carey Price is expected to be the Habs’ starting goaltender, and he’s pretty much owned the Bruins throughout his career with a 24-8-4 record and a .924 save percentage. However, he’s struggled mightily in four February games. Price has a poor .875 save percentage with 13 goals allowed in those matchups.
Price’s road doesn’t get any easier Sunday, as the Bruins have scored four or more goals in six of their last seven games. Boston is 5-2-0 over that span.
Here are the projected lineups for Bruins-Habs.
BOSTON BRUINS (28-23-6)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Backes
Peter Cehlarik–David Krejci–David Pastrnak
Frank Vatrano–Ryan Spooner–Matt Beleskey
Tim Schaller–Dominic Moore–Riley Nash
Zdeno Chara–Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug–Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller–Colin Miller
Tuukka Rask
MONTREAL CANADIENS (31-18-8)
Max Pacioretty–Phillip Danault–Alexander Radulov
Artturi Lehkonen–Alex Galchenyuk–Paul Byron
Sven Andrighetto–Tomas Plekanec–Andrew Shaw
Daniel Carr–Michael McCarron–Torrey Mitchell
Alexei Emelin–Shea Weber
Nathan Beaulieu–Jeff Petry
Andrei Markov–Greg Pateryn
Carey Price
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images