The Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins are playing on the NHL playoffs schedule on Thursday night and the first Game 1 of the second round come live from TD Garden and starts up at 7:30 pm ET on the NBC Sports Network and the game is streaming online from the NBCSN Live Extra website and has two teams with long layoffs looking to move on towards the Stanley Cup.
The Bruins won over the Detroit Red Wings to advance to the next round and they lost the first game of the series before taking the next four and that means both the Bruins and the Canadiens have won four in a row. The matchup is the second straight Original Six series for the Bruins, as they play Montreal now and they are looking dominant after slipping in the first game.
The Canadiens are playing for their entire nation, as they are the only team from north of the border in the playoffs this season. Montreal won in a four game series sweep of the Lighting and Tampa Bay was without their goalie, as Ben Bishop was injured and that left the team in a tough position. The Canadiens have been on the mat for 10 days and now they will get the chance to get back on the ice.
The playoffs on both sides of the league are now all set and the Canadiens and Bruin have been waiting for everyone else to finish up so they can get started. Those were the first two teams to advance and now they are matching up first in the only game on Thursday, while the Friday schedule will pick up with the rest of the league. The Rangers won game 7 against the Flyers to stay undefeated in six of those matchups at the Garden in final elimination games and now they move on and will face the number two seed in the Pittsburgh Penguins and that will be a tough series after Pitt matched up with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The other side of the league has the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks still alive and that came after the team made a comeback against the Blues. The Hawks were down 2-0 in the series and then won four games in a row and now they are alive to face the Minnesota Wild, who won over the Avalanche. The Blackhawks played the Bruins in the finals last season and those two teams are alive, while the Wild upset Colorado and that came in a Game 7 win on the road and now they have advanced.
The Biggest upset and most historic upset in the playoffs this year was the San Jose Sharks, as they lost to the LA Kings in Game 7 after being up 3-0 in the series and now Los Angeles has the chance to win their second Cup in three years if they continue this way with the strong play from goalie Jonathan Quick. The last three Cup winners are still alive, as the Bruins, Kings and Blackhawks all remain as the playoffs now have just four teams on each side in the east and west, meaning each has a 25 percent chance of making it to the finals.
