Round 1, Game 6 Preview: Ottawa Senators @ Boston Bruins

After Friday’s stressful 3-2 double overtime loss, the Ottawa Senators look to close out round one against Boston Bruins in their second attempt. Should the Bruins win today, however, this series is headed to seven games. Having finished the last game at 11:30 PM and then hopping on a plane to Boston the next day, both teams should surely be fatigued in preparation for today’s afternoon contest.

Viktor Stalberg will be a game-time decision, and Tommy Wingels has been confirmed to play with Tom Pyatt still injured. Should Stalberg play, Kelly will most likely be the player to go out. Boucher has also decided to make a substitution on defence, bringing in Fredrik Claesson for Chris Wideman. As for the Bruins, nobody's expected to be back from injury, heading in with the same lineup as Friday.

Here's a rough sketch of the Sens' line combos for today:

Here are some notes for today:

• The New York Rangers knocked out the Montreal Canadiens in six games, making them the second round opponent for the winner of this series.
• Speaking of which, Mika Zibanejad and Derick Brassard both lead their respective teams in points.
• Should the Senators and Capitals both win today, this will be the first time since 2001 that the first round of the playoffs has gone without a game seven.
• 39-goal-scorer Brad Marchand has one goal in five games.
• Of players who've play in all five games this series, only Cody Ceci is without a point for Ottawa, with five shots on goal. Kevan Miller’s in the same boat for Boston, hitting the net nine times.
• Despite being second on the team in shots and first in shot attempts, Erik Karlsson is still looking for his first goal of the playoffs. He’s been playing incredible hockey though, leading the team with a relative 5v5 Corsi % of +16.71, and a relative expected goals % of +25.59 (Corsica’s model).
• The Boucher blender continues to mix up the forwards, as no line combo has yet to reach 25 minutes together.
• Meanwhile, Phaneuf-Ceci continues to get regular minutes as the Sens’ most-used pairing. They have a CF% of 28.38%, and that’s not a typo.
• Marc Methot’s been averaging five hits per game, more than double his 2.4 in the regular season.
• This was stated in Adnan’s last preview but deserves to be said again: a win today would give Pierre Dorion as many playoff series wins as GM of the Sens as Bryan Murray./