After grinding out a well-earned victory over one of the league’s top team in the Blue Jackets on Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators look to keep it rolling against the Boston Bruins.
Looking at the standings, it’s clear the Atlantic Division is going to be close right till the end of the season. And that’s what makes these head to head match ups that much more important. With 20 games left in the season, get used to the term four point game.
Ottawa and Boston will play two more times before the end of the season.
The Senators hold a slim two point lead over the Bruins and they have two games in hand. A regulation win would really solidify Ottawa’s position in the division.
After an inconsistent start and a change behind the bench, the Bruins have been rolling in the second half of the season. Their underlying numbers have been strong most of the year though so it sort of felt like it was only a matter of time before the Bruins started rolling a little bit. The Bruins have the Eastern Conference’s best record in their last ten games at 8-2-0.
They sit sort of middle of the pack in a number of categories including 14th in goals for, 10th in goals against and 13th in power play percentage. They generate a ton of shots though (2nd in the NHL) and don’t really give many up (2nd in the NHL). They also have the league’s second ranked penalty kill unit.
Should be a good test for Ottawa as they close out this three game homestand. After tonight, the Senators hit the road for three straight in Dallas, Arizona and Colorado.
Guy Boucher will have his team on the ice for their morning skate at 10:30 AM this morning so we’ll find out then if there are line up changes planned. Dion Phaneuf is sick and it seems like he’ll likely miss this one. That would mean Freddy Claesson draws in.
Dzingel-Turris-Smith
Burrows-Brassard-Stone
Hoffman-Pageau-Pyatt
Stalberg-Kelly-Wingels
Claesson-Karlsson
Methot-Ceci
Borowiecki-Wideman
Craig Anderson is expected to get the start in goal for Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 PM.
–Interesting article in the Ottawa Citizen last night suggesting that new Team President Tom Anselmi is considering the possibility of a logo change for the franchise. Not surprisingly, the news was met with a great deal of excitement on Twitter where the branding of the team has been a talking point for the last few months. Re-branding can be a complicated process and its something you absolutely have to get right the first time around. What’s reassuring in this instance is there are already some excellent options available to the team, including the wildly popular heritage jerseys and the 2D logo. I think any of the combinations outlined below would be pretty well-received.
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