Montreal, Boston Game 7 Tonight

For the eighth time in their 33 Stanley Cup playoff matchups, the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens will face off in a winner-take-all Game 7 tonight. No clubs in major pro sports have met in as many Game 7s as the Bruins and Canadiens. Other longtime "Original Six" rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, have squared off six times in a Game 7, as have the NBA's Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.

The Canadiens have won five of the previous seven Game 7s with Boston, most recently a 5-0 victory at Montreal on April 21, 2008. Overall the Canadiens have won their past four Game 7s since 2004, while the Bruins have dropped their past four over the same span.

Adding an extra wrinkle tonight is the back-to-back games with travel. The Bruins-Canadiens series will be the ninth in NHL history to feature Games 6 and 7 played on consecutive days. There appears to be no advantage in that home teams and road teams have split the eight previous games (4-4), as have teams winning/losing Game 6 (4-4).

Update: Boston wins this one, thanks to Nathan Horton's overtime heroics and some non-calls. It was a tough loss for Montreal, who fought valiantly. The team overcame the loss of arguably their top two defensemen this season. Carey Price put together one of the more impressive individual seasons in team history, earning everyone's respect under immense pressure.