After a complete effort in last night’s 4-0 win over the Sabres, the Bruins got the start that they needed to start their hectic five-game in seven-day stretch. From Tuukka Rask again standing tall to pass Tim Thomas for third on the team’s all-time shutout list (32) to the contributions from the power play and secondary scoring, the Black and Gold are hoping that those things come to fruition for a second straight night as they travel to Montreal to face the Canadiens for their first of two back-to-backs this week.

The main storyline from the Bruins perspective entering their Election Night rivalry matchup is what to do with Rask. Do they give him a day off and give Zane McIntyre his second career NHL start? Or will Claude Julien ride the hot hand and give the nod to Rask, who is arguably off to the best start of his career at 7-1-0 with a 1.74 goals against average and .941 save percentage.

Given Rask’s health and his career record against the Canadiens (5-15-3, 2.69 GAA, .910 SV%), it wouldn’t be all that surprising if McIntyre gets the nod. On the other hand, putting McIntyre into the fire against the red-hot Canadiens with the work in progress Bruins defense in front of him might not be the best idea either.

Then there was the first matchup against the Canadiens, a 4-2 loss where the Bruins defense left Anton Khudobin out to dry for the most part. Rask provides a calmness for the Bruins D, but at some point, they need to learn how to play without the services of the 2014 Vezina Trophy recipient. After all, the last thing the Bruins want to do is give Rask more of a workload than he already has.

The Bruins had an optional skate this morning at the Bell Centre. We won’t find out who gets the nod in net until warmups.

Gametime: 7:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 7-5-0 (14 points), Canadiens 10-1-1 (21 points)
Location: Bell Centre

Bruins’ projected lines

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Ryan Spooner-David Krejci-David Backes
Matt Beleskey-Riley Nash-Austin Czarnik
Tim Schaller-Dominic Moore-Jimmy Hayes

Zdeno Chara-Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
John-Michael Liles-Colin Miller

Tuukka Rask
Zane McIntyre

Canadiens projected lines

Paul Byron-Alex Galchenyuk-Alexander Radulov
Max Pacioretty-Tomas Plekanec-Brendan Gallagher
Daniel Carr-David Desharnais-Andrew Shaw
Phillip Danault-Torrey Mitchell-Bryan Flynn

Alexei Emelin-Shea Weber
Andrei Markov-Jeff Petry
Nathan Beaulieu-Greg Pateryn

Carey Price
Al Montoya

Tonight’s storylines

With Noel Acciari out, Jimmy Hayes could return to the Bruins lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last two games. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

– Fourth line winger Noel Acciari left during the third period last night with an undisclosed injury. The Providence College alum did not make the trip to Montreal and will miss his first game of 2016-17. Assuming the Bruins don’t make any callups between now and game time, expect Jimmy Hayes to return to fill in. Hayes, who scored the shootout winner against the Lightning, was a healthy scratch the last two games and has not tallied a point in the last 26 games dating back to last February. Matt Beleskey, who was a healthy scratch in Tampa, has skated well the last two games and tallied his first point of the season against the Sabres. We’ll see if that same message resonates with the Dorchester native against the Bruins’ hated rivals.

– For all of the Bruins struggles against the Canadiens in recent years, their record at the Bell Centre hasn’t been that terrible. Unlike their home mark against the Canadiens where they haven’t beaten them at TD Garden since January 2012, the Bruins are 4-5-0 in Montreal and have won the last two meetings up north. A good start in the second game of a back to back and extending their streak to seven straight games of scoring first is something the Bruins will strive for as they look to make it three straight at Centre de Bell.