The Ottawa Senators will play what is probably their biggest game of the season to date when they visit the Boston Bruins.
Boston currently sits in a tie with the Florida Panthers for the final wild card spot in the East with the Senators sitting just four points back. As poorly as things have gone for the Senators of late, they have a chance to jump right back in the playoff race with a regulation win in Boston.
The Senators put in a pretty solid effort against the Kings on Thursday night but will need to be better to come away with two points in Boston. It will be interesting to see if the Sens can match the intensity and pace they seemed to have in Dave Cameron’s debut. You could tell their was a focus on doing everything a little bit quicker and being more aggressive in all three zones. That sort of approach seems ideal against a Boston team that loves to play physical hockey.
Jared Cowen missed practice yesterday but is expected to play this afternoon in Boston. Clarke MacArthur missed the last game with the flu but was at practice yesterday and appears ready to return to his usual spot on the left wing beside Kyle Turris. Chris Neil was hurt in the game against the Kings and will not play. Colin Greening stays in. In a bit of a surprise move, even if it is clearly the right move, Cameron has announced that Chris Phillips is a healthy scratch in favour of Patrick Wiercioch.
No morning skate so we won’t know the lines until game time but here’s a best guess at how Dave Cameron will line his team up to start this one.
MacArthur-Turris-Stone
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Legwand-Smith-Condra
Greening-Lazar-Chiasson
Wiercioch-Karlsson
Cowen-Ceci
Borowiecki-Gryba
Robin Lehner gets the start in the Ottawa goal. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 1:00 PM with the game available on TSN5.
