The first Canadiens Vs Bruins meeting of the season brings together two familiar things at once: a rivalry that never needs help creating urgency and a Bruins team that arrives with real momentum. Boston hosts Montreal at TD Garden on Thursday night, with Jeremy Swayman starting in net, and the setting gives the game a little extra weight. The Bruins entered on a four-game win streak and led the Atlantic Division with 27 points, while Montreal sat one point behind at 26. Early in the schedule, that is close enough to matter.
That is also why this feels like more than just the first of four regular-season meetings. Boston and Montreal are Original Six rivals, and games like this usually reveal something useful about both teams: who can manage the pace, who can stay composed under pressure and who can turn a rivalry game into something controlled rather than chaotic. Marco Sturm said his group is in a good spot and knows what it takes to win, but he also stressed the need to be smart and play the right way against a very good team. That is usually the right tone for a matchup like this one.
A homecoming game with a real edge
The occasion matters here, too. The game is being framed as the Causeway University Homecoming Game with a traditional homecoming celebration theme, which adds some flavor to a night that already had plenty built in. It is also a meaningful one for Frederic Brunet, who is facing the Canadiens for the first time in his career. The 23-year-old Quebec native said it will be special to play against the team he grew up watching, and he also called it a big game because it is a division matchup against one of Boston’s biggest rivals.
Brunet’s path adds another layer to the story. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 NHL Draft, spent three seasons in the AHL with Providence and is now getting a chance to experience this rivalry from the other side of the glass. He said his strongest memory at the Bell Center was being drafted by the Bruins, when he heard his name called in French. That is the kind of detail that makes a rivalry game feel personal without needing any extra decoration.
Why the Bruins have the edge right now
Boston’s case is straightforward enough. The Bruins are in form, they are getting the start they want in net and they are handling the standings pressure that comes with leading the division. Montreal may be close in the table, but the gap in current momentum matters. A four-game win streak does not guarantee anything in a rivalry game, yet it does suggest a team playing with enough rhythm to trust its structure.
The challenge is that rivalry games can ignore recent logic. Montreal will not need to dominate possession or overwhelm Boston with volume to make this interesting. It only needs a few clean moments, a mistake or two and some emotional swings. That is why Thursday’s game matters beyond the points column. If the Bruins can handle the opener of the season series with discipline, they reinforce the idea that they are already operating like a team that understands its identity. If not, the standings gap will matter a lot less than the warning signs.
Either way, the first meeting has enough built into it to feel important right away. Swayman gets the crease, Boston gets the home ice and the first chapter of the Canadiens Vs Bruins season series begins with both the rivalry and the race already in view.
