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(Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins were playing some of their best hockey of the season prior to the Olympic break. The reigning Northeast Division leaders hope to pick up right where they left off tonight in a key showdown with the rival Montreal Canadiens from TD Garden.

The 2009-10 campaign has been an inconsistent one for a Bruins squad that led the Eastern Conference with 116 points a season ago, as Boston's 27-22-11 record currently stands seventh in the East standings. The team had been playing like major contenders in the final days before the stoppage, however, posting four straight road victories to match its longest winning streak of the season.

Boston's surge began with a 3-0 triumph over the Canadiens in Montreal on February 7 behind a 36-save performance from goaltender Tuukka Rask, and the club completed the trip with a 3-2 shootout decision at Florida on February 13. Mark Recchi scored the game-tying goal with just over eight minutes remaining in the third period, then put an end to a long standoff when he beat Panthers netminder Tomas Vokoun with a wrist shot in the shootout's eighth round.

Rask stopped 6-of-8 Florida skaters during the deciding phase after making 26 saves over regulation and overtime.

Boston's winning streak followed up a rough 10-game stretch in which it went 0-6-4 from January 16-February 6, one short of matching a franchise record for consecutive losses. The Bruins now will be attempting to halt a nine-game skid (0-6-3) at TD Garden, where they haven't won since shutting out Atlanta on December 30.

The Bruins last prevailed in Beantown on New Year's Day, besting Philadelphia in the Winter Classic held at Fenway Park.

Montreal is presently one point back of Boston for the East's seventh seed and dropped its final two contests before the break, with both defeats coming to Philadelphia in a home-and-home series. The Flyers completed the sweep in convincing fashion on February 13, when Quebec native Danny Briere registered a hat trick to lead his team to a 6-2 rout at the Bell Centre.

The Flyers edged the Habs by a 3-2 score in Philadelphia the previous night.

"Not the games we wanted to play," said Canadiens forward Brian Gionta after the second loss. "It is what it is now. We'll have to regroup after the break with 19 games left and try to make a push."

Jaroslav Halak stopped only five of 17 shots in two periods of work for Montreal in the most recent matchup, but the goaltender performed better in helping his native Slovakia to the Bronze Medal Game of the just-completed Winter Olympics. Forwards Tomas Plekanec (Czech Republic) and Sergei Kostitsyn (Belarus) and defenseman Andrei Markov (Russia) also represented their countries in Vancouver.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and veteran forward Miroslav Satan were teammates of Halak's on the fourth-place Slovakian squad, while center Patrice Bergeron was part of the Canadian team that defeated the United States for the gold medal on Sunday. Boston netminder Tim Thomas served as a reserve backstop for Team USA.

Two other Bruins, forwards Marco Sturm (Germany) and David Krejci (Czech Republic), also participated in the Olympics, with Sturm captaining the German team.

Tonight's tilt begins a challenging four-game road trip for Montreal that also includes stops in San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim. The Canadiens are just 14-15-2 as the guest this season, but have won in both of their previous visits to TD Garden in 2009-10.

The Canadiens had taken the first three meetings between these divisional foes this season until Boston's win at the Bell Centre on February 7.