The Bruins will host the Ottawa Senators tonight in a Northeast division clash at TD Garden. The Bruins are looking to bounce back after a 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. Ottawa currently has the same point total as the Bruins with 17, but the Sens have played three extra games than the B's. The Senators are coming off of a frustrating 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Tonight's game kicks off a four-game road trip for the Senators that will take them to Boston, Philadelphia, Raleigh, and St. Louis.
The Senators are off to an 8-7-1 start to the season. They have been led offensively by Daniel Alfredsson, who has potted 6 goals and recorded 14 points (6-8-14) through 16 games. Brian Elliot has seen the bulk of the workload in net this season for Ottawa with 12 games played. Elliot has an 8-4-0 record with a 2.81 GAA and .911 save percentage. Elliot is expected to get the start in goal tonight.
These two teams have met once already this year, with the Bruins defeating the Senators 4-0 on October 30th. You may remember that Chris Neil picked a fight with Dennis Seidenberg late in the game. Look for Shawn Thornton and the B's to look for retribution against Neil in this one. Shawn Thornton was smart enough to keep his mouth shut when asked by the media about his plans for Neil, but you get the feeling that someone will make Chris Neil answer the bell tonight. There is no doubt that The Garden crowd will be looking for blood.
Tim Thomas was the first goalie off the ice at the morning skate, so look for TT in net tonight...unless the Bruins goalies are screwing with the media and gamblers again.
Notes:
- Senators defenseman Filip Kuba is expected to be in the lineup tonight after missing the start of the season with a broken ankle.
- Some promising signs on the injury front for the Bruins: David Krejci skated this morning for the first time since his concussion and Johnny Boychuk has been on the ice taking shots and expects to be back by the end of the month, possibly as early as next weekend.
- Sens goalie Pascal Leclaire got a little fired up at practice on Friday.
- Both Brian Elliot and Matt Carkner will play in their 100th NHL games tonight.
- Alex Kovalev is 2 points shy of reching the 1,000 point milestone. If he does get it in Boston, I wonder if this guy will steal his stick as a collector's item?
- For more on tonight's game check out Silver Seven. While you are there be sure to read Mark Parisi's awesome post about innovative (or at least adaptive) ideas to improve the NHL's rulebook.
- The game starts at 7:00 PM ET and can be seen on NESN or CBC (north of the border). As always, 98.5 The Sports Hub has the radio call. The Public Skate open thread gets underway at 6:30 PM ET.