Game 37 Preview: B’s @ Sens
The Sens host the Bruins on Saturday night in Kanata
The Ottawa Senators come into Saturday night’s game on the heels of an impressive victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in which they scored four straight goals and generally controlled play against one of the better teams in the league. They look to build
Let me just say up front that it felt very strange to type all of that out given the team’s performance this season. The Sens really did play well last night. They won a game that they probably deserved to win, and virtually all of their stars had performances worth remembering. It’s going to be nearly impossible to climb back into the play-off race at this stage, but last night’s game was a reminder of what this team can aspire to be when everything is clicking. In a season otherwise virtually devoid of hope, that sure felt good.
As for tonight’s affair, there was no game day skate so here’s how Boucher lined them up last night:
Pyatt - Brassard - Stone
Hoffman - Chlapik - Pageau
Paul - Thompson - Burrows
Oduya - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Harpur - Chabot
Condon (starter)
Anderson
Thoughts:
- Winning is fun, the Sens should do more of that
- Although the Bruins are currently occupying the third seed in the Atlantic Division, it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs that the Sens might realistically be hunting down if they want to pull off a play-off miracle. The B’s have a better PTS% than the Buds and their underlying metrics are sterling. If I had to pick one of the two squads to come back to the pack a bit, I might choose Toronto.
- David Krejci returns to the line-up for the Bruins tonight. Boston’s depth down the middle is dramatically improved when he anchors the second line.
- That being said, the key to success against Boston is in limiting the Patrice Bergeron - Brad Marchand - David Pastrnak line. Good luck with that, Cody Ceci!/
Here are some stats for the team via, as always, NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com:
Team Stats
| Category | Ottawa | Senators | Boston | Bruins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Value | Rank | Value | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 2.68 | 25th | 3.25 | 6th |
| Goals against/GP | 3.44 | 30th | 2.56 | 3rd |
| Shots/GP | 30.7 | 24th | 32.8 | 11th |
| Shots against/GP | 33.0 | 25th | 29.3 | 2nd |
| Powerplay % | 16.7 | 26th | 23.5 | 4th |
| Penalty Kill % | 76.2 | 27th | 83.3 | 4th |
| Corsi (5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted) | 46.32 | 29th | 53.97 | 2nd |
| Fenwick (5v5, SVA) | 46.94 | 27th | 54.01 | 1st |
Player Stats
| Ottawa | Senators | Boston | Bruins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Matt Duchene | 27 | Brad Marchand | 34 |
| Assists | Erik Karlsson (out) | 53 | Brad Marchand | 51 |
| Points | Karlsson/Stone (both out) | 62 | Brad Marchand | 85 |
| Shots | Mike Hoffman | 253 | David Pastrnak | 236 |
| TOI/GP | Erik Karlsson (out) | 26:44 | Zdeno Chara | 22:53 |