Against all odds, the Bruins are now kind of competing for a playoff spot. Let’s see how they handle the current holder of the first wildcard spot!
Just the Facts
- The Time: 7pm EST
- The Place: Canadian Tire Center, Kanata, Ottawa
- Place to Watch: NESN, TSN-5, RDS
- Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Silver Seven Sens
Know Your Enemy
- The Sens are 34-25-5, which is good for 73 points in the standings and for the first wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
- Their leading goalscorer is Brady Tkachuk, who has 27 goals in 62 games played.
- Tim Stützle leads the Sens in points with 66 in 64 games.
- Linus Ullmark, oh how many of the Boston faithful miss you. He’s got a .913 SV% in 32 starts.
Game Preview
Isn’t it funny how all this works?
The Bruins had to make some extremely painful but necessary moves to both supply themselves with capital for the draft and free agency, but also say goodbye to a number of players…and it seems like the response from the team has been overwhelmingly positive; currently on a two game win streak against two very good squads, and are now right back in the thick of it in the Wild Card chase.
Still on the outside looking in of course, but making a push for it in spite of their decision to sell!
Which brings us to the opponent: the Ottawa Senators.
The Sens need little introduction; they’ve been in and out of the 3rd spot in the Atlantic all year, and are currently sitting pretty on a 4 game win streak. Those 4 games are ones you should probably win anyway, but still; all the momentum is seemingly on their side. Jake Sanderson is seemingly taking direct control of the points distribution in Ottawa, and Brady Tkachuk appears to be just as much punk-ass as he is goalscorer. This should be a difficult test for Boston.
Just like Tampa should’ve.
Just like Florida should’ve.
Boston seems really up to the challenge recently, so who knows how much momentum the Sens really have in comparison to what these new look Bruins have?
If there’s anything I’d like to see out of this game, I’d sure like to see Casey Mittelstadt and Marat Khusnutdinov to get their first goals in a Bruins uniform, as they’ve played wonderfully over the past couple of games, and I’d like to see that rewarded. Other than that? Let’s see the Bruins scare the hell out of Ottawa by just being a much different, much more engaged squad than they’ve seen so far this year.
Ought to be a good one either way, so we’ll see you there!