Thursday night, the Bruins brought back Milt Schmidt and Bobby Orr for the opening night ceremonies at TD Garden. Both of those careers merged in 1965-66.

Here are your two water-cooler Q’s before Saturday night’s faceoff with the archrival Canadiens. The first gives only 10 seconds to do the math; the second, take as much as needed.

How many times did the B’s and C’s meet annually back in the years leading to 1966?

When did the current Bruins’ team last win a regular-season game against the Canadiens on home ice?

That would be 16 times for Question 1.

“Well, I think we still did okay against them last year,” Claude Julien said after Saturday’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. “We won our fair amount of games against Montreal.”

Not at home, coach. Question 2 answer: January 12, 2012. Yep, almost five years since a Bruins’ victory on Causeway Street.

So, here we are on October 22, 2016, with the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry at a measly total of four games a year. And three will be played before 2017 with the Black and Gold heading for that five-year mark without a victory before the 17,565 faithful.

And without Tuukka Rask in what was to be a classic mano a mano duel between Rask and Carey Price. Instead, it was Anton Khudobin vs. Price; each having played but one game so far. Khudobin was lit up last Saturday night in the loss at Toronto; Price with one win battling a flu bug. But back Saturday night where Montreal needs him to be the next six months.

Is Julien concerned about Rask? “No,” he said with no follow-up about Rask’s “lower-body” day-by-day setback.

Last year, the Canadiens started 10-2 under Price before he was shut down for the season with a major knee rehab from which the Habs never recovered. Last month, Price led Team Canada to a World Cup win over Team Europe with a sparkling 1.00 GAA.

Montreal entered Saturday night leading the Atlantic Division with seven points in four games with the Bruins right behind with six. Shea Weber, who the team acquired this offseason via trade with Nashville for P.K. Subban, was tied for the team lead with four points.

“I think they made a great acquisition there, personally,” Julien said about Weber and the mega deal. “I think it’s a great fit for them.”

Here’s what we learned from another battle between these historic combatants in an electric and playoff-like atmosphere on Saturday night.

The streak continues at nine straight home losses

At 11:41 of the second period, Brendan Gallagher zipped a 15-footer past Khudobin for a 1-0 lead. Then at 17:44, Phillip Danault’s 2-on-1 pass from Alexander Radulov beat an unflinching Khudobin with a 15-foot wrister.

“Terrible,” Julien assessed about the B’s second-period play. “That’s where it really hurt us.”

Boston went on the power play with 1:39 remaining for a key opp to crawl within one. Not to be, especially when Price stopped David Pastrnak point blank with three ticks left.

Boston’s first shot on goal in the third period didn’t occur until 5:54, but it lit their first red light when Merrimack, NH, native Tim Schaller and former Harvard captain Dom Moore broke in on Price with Moore bringing the B’s to within one; Noel Acciari also assisting.

A breakdown by Torey Krug and Colin Miller sent Paul Byron in alone on Khudobin for a 3-1 lead at 7:32. Some 30 ticks later, Boston struck on the man advantage when Ryan Spooner beat Price with David Backes and David Krejci assisting.

Former Vermont star Torrey Mitchell sealed the deal at 12:47 when he stole the puck behind Khudobin – after yet another Boston breakdown — and promptly deposited it unassisted for the 4-2 final.

The Black and Gold would end the game with a 6-on-4 for the last two minutes. Make that a 6-on-3 the last minute with another Habs’ infraction for delay of game.

Exciting finish, yes, but not the desired outcome.

“We made mistakes that were too costly,” Julien said, “and when you give up four goals to Montreal, and you have [Carey] Price at the other end, it’s pretty hard to beat that team.”

“We’ve been fortunate to be able to have some success here,” the Habs’ Gallagher said about the nine-game streak. “I think we all enjoy it, but you take nothing for granted. Doesn’t mean the next time its going to go that way.”

That would be February 12, the next — and last — time this season for Boston to end the streak.

Early opps go for naughts

Just 1:18 in, the B’s get a four-minute power play when Gallagher stuck his stick in the snoot of Brandon Carlo. But David Backes negated that with two for interference two minutes later. At the seven-minute mark, Ryan Spooner swooped in 2-on-0 with Montreal caught in a line change – and shot wide of Price. Schaller fired a gimme rebound wide of Price at the 10-minute mark.

Khudobin kept the B’s in the game after 20 minutes, stopping all 13 shots, while Boston’s five were routine saves for Price.

“Listen, Anton gave us a chance to win for the longest of time,” Julien said in defense of his netminder. “I don’t think we helped him at the other end of it, but he had made the saves that he had to make, and some of the mistakes, breakaways and that kind of stuff, we know better than to give those.”

Boston caught a break at 1:28 of the second when Brian Flynn’s deflection clanged the crossbar behind Khudobin.

SOG, faceoff, power play and first-goal anemia

Is there a better top-2 D in the NHL than Weber and Andrei Markov? They led the Canadiens in a team-defense win that allowed Boston 20 shots on net. Most were routine saves for Price. The B’s went 5:54 in the third before their first shot and mustered but three until the last two minutes.

After two periods, Montreal won twice as many face-offs as the home team.

“I think it’s not just the faceoff,” Patrice Bergeron offered about keys to the loss. “I think there’s a lot of areas we lost too many battles.”

Such as the power play and first-goal scoring. Boston is 2 for 20 (10%) on the power play; 0 for 5 in scoring the first goal through five games.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that with the amount of games we’ve played,” Julien said postgame. “So, we talked about that this morning, trying to get that first goal, and it hasn’t happened yet.”

Maybe Tuesday when the Minnesota Wild come to town.