Montreal/Boston by the Numbers

The Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins are facing off in the playoffs this year for the first time since a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss in game 7 in 2011. So far this series has had everything the fans were hoping for, amazing comebacks, controversial calls, even more controversial non-calls, beautiful goals, excellent goaltending and all the hostility you would expect from an Original Six match up. 

“Original Six” is the term used to describe the six teams that formed the NHL for the 25 seasons between 1942 and the expansion to era of 1967. The four other teams who make up this group are the New York Rangers, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. These teams typically have strong fan bases, storied histories, and when they meet, the results don't usually disappoint. 

Here is a quick look at the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins match up through the numbers:

The Canadiens (Habs) have been in the NHL since its inaugural season in 2017-2018, and through their 96 seasons they have made 81 playoffs appearances and hoisted the Stanley Cup a total of 23 times. In that time they have accumulated 7366 points with a 3210-2094-109 record and 837 ties (before the shootout). The Bruins, on the other hand, entered the league during the 1924-1925 season and have made 69 playoff appearances winning the Cup 6 times. In 89 NHL seasons they have accumulated 6788 points with a 2938-2240-121 record and 791 ties. 

Their intense rivalry is likely due to the fact that they have played one another more than any other team, a total of 725 games (the Maple Leafs were a close second with 724 games against Montreal). The Habs have a slight edge with 351 wins, 264 losses, 103 ties and 7 overtime losses, giving them 812 points to the Bruins 654. They have scored 2194 goals against the Bruins, for an average of 3.03 per game, allowing 1916 goals against, for 2.64 per game.

Historical stats are interesting, but this year’s regular season stats are much more relevant for the current series. This season, Tuukka Rask was the starting goaltender for the Bruins; in 58 games he had 36 wins with a .930 save percentage and 2.04 goals against average. Carey Price was the go to netminder for the Habs; he had 34 wins in 59 games with a .927 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.32.

In four regular season games against Montreal, Rask finished with a .932 save percentage allowing eight goals for an average of two per game. Price only played one regular season game against Boston allowing one goal on 33 shots for a .970 save percentage.

In their four regular season match ups, the Bruins finished with 19 minor penalties, while the Habs finished with 15; both teams had 3 fighting majors. Despite being shorthanded against Boston 15 times in four games, Montreal allowed only one power play goal for a 93.3% success rate on the PK. They scored twice on their 19 attempts with the man advantage for a 12.5% success rate on the power play.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Canadiens is that they are a young, small team and cannot compete with the “Big Bad Bruins”. The numbers don’t seem to favour the Canadiens as  Brad Marchand and Torey Krug are the only Bruins player who are less than six feet tall and the average age of their roster is 29 years; the Habs have a total of seven player under six feet with an average age of 28 for their team.

Experience is another area where the Bruins seem to hold an advantage against Montreal. They have 13 players on their roster from their 2011 Stanley Cup winning team, with Shawn Thornton having also won the Cup in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks. The Canadiens have significantly less experience with only three Stanley Cup Champions, Captain Brian Gionta who won with the New Jersey Devils in 2003 and Travis Moen and George Parros who won with Anaheim in 2007.

These numbers are interesting and can help to write the narrative for the series, but the only number that actually matters for is four, the number of wins needed to advance to the Conference Finals. With the win last night, the Habs only need two more to pull off the upset and send the Bruins golfing, and I for one hope they can do it.