Game 41 Preview – Boston Bruins @ Ottawa Senators

Less than 24 hours after being the victim of a lop-sided score in Beantown, the Senators will be looking to return the favor when the teams meet on Ottawa ice for a rare Saturday evening tilt. (26-10-2, 54 points)  1st Atlantic Division

VS

(15-18-7, 37 points) 6th Atlantic Division

 7:00 PM,  Canadian Tire Centre

TV: CBC;  RADIO TSN1200

MATCHUP HISTORY

You don’t have to go back very far for the last meeting between the clubs.  Last night’s 5-0 victory for the Bruins was close for the first 40 minutes, but the B’s pulled away in the third as the Senators either ran out of gas or tried to pressure so much to even the score that they couldn’t defend properly. That win evened the season series at 1 game apiece.

Dec 27, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Ottawa Senators right wing Chris Neil (25) looks for a rebound in front of Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) and defenseman Matt Bartkowski (43) during the third period of Boston

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Niklas Svedberg, BOS – Who?  The Bruins recalled the young goalie and he could make his NHL debut against the Senators.  The 24 year old Swede was 37-8-2 last season in Providence as he was named the goalie of the year in the AHL.  He is 11-5- 3 so far this year.

Craig Anderson, OTT – Andy will no doubt get the net back and will be looking to follow up his 5-0 shutout over the Penguins on Monday with another win at home against the Bruins.  He has actually had a pretty decent December, going 4-1-2 so far this month.

TOP 3 STORYLINES FOR THE GAME

1. Playoffs Slipping Away – If you were paying attention to the Toronto Maple Leafs game at the same time as the Senators game last night, there was optimism followed by despair. With the Senators playing the Bruins tight, the Buffalo Sabres actually held a 2-0 lead on the Leafs and it looked like Ottawa could make up some ground.  Then, Toronto came back and won in a shootout, and you know what Ottawa did.  Now the Senators sit 6 points back in the wild card chase and a loss tonight will be tough to take.

2.  Capitalize On Chances – The Senators should have and could have led 2 or 3-0 after 20 minutes, but they couldn’t capitalize on their chances.  it was a rare game where they were ready for puck drop and they let it slip away.

3.  Power Play – The Senators were 0/3 with the man advantage and allowed a late shorthanded marker to Brad Marchand.  They cannot afford to be in the negative with their own man advantage.

PARTING SHOT

The Senators went big on the blueline, dressing Erik Gryba over Patrick Wiercioch and Joe Corvo on Friday night. With Cocy Ceci cementing his place in the lineup, look for the Senators to go with a more puck-moving blue line so that they might not spend as much time in their own zone and dress one of the scratches tonight.