GDT: Game 37 - 7:14 PM - The Bear goes skating on Ottawa's Rideau Canal : NESN, SN, 98.5 WBZ-FM

[Fenway]

TONIGHT’S GAME

The Bruins visit the Senators tonight for the second of four games between these teams and the first of two at Canadian Tire Centre … The Bruins are 20-10-6 this season and are 7-5-3 on the road thus far … They are 5-1-2 against Atlantic Division foes and 10-4-5 against the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins are playing game 2 tonight of a 3-game road trip, concluding at NY Islanders on 1/2 before returning home to host Florida on 1/4.

They are finishing tonight their 6th of 16 sets of 3-games-in-4-nights this season … They have gone 3-2-1 in game 1s, 3-1-2 in game 2s and 3-1-1 in game 3s of those series this season

Tonight's Officials

Referees Graham Skilliter (24), Ian Walsh (29)
Linesmen David Brisebois (96), Scott Cherrey (50)

Ntl. Anthem Krista Jane

Krista Jane sings National Anthems at Canadian Tire Centre

BOSTON vs OTTAWA, LIFETIME SERIES

The Bruins and Senators are meeting for the 136th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 75-41-8-11 record and 425-341 scoring advantage in those contests.

The Bruins are 34-21-3-7 in 65 games played between the teams in Ottawa with a 190-162 scoring edge.

The Bruins snapped a 6-game winless streak vs. the Senators at 0-4-2 with a 5-1 win in Boston on 12/27 in the 1st game of this season’s series … It was their 1st win over Ottawa since a 7-3 home victory on Dec. 29, 2015 … They are now 6-8-4 in their last 18 games vs. the Senators following a 22-6-0 run … They are winless in their last 5 visits to Ottawa at 0-4-1 with their last road win over the Senators a 3-1 victory on Mar. 10, 2015.

WAYBACK MACHINE

MILESTONES APPROACHING -

Brad Marchand is one assist shy of the 200 NHL/Bruins assists milestone.
Torey Krug is four points short of his 200th NHL/Bruins point.
Patrice Bergeron is five points shy of his 700th NHL/Bruins point.

INJURIES (Total man-games lost in 2017-18: 150)

Adam McQuaid – Broken right fibula suffered 10/19 vs VAN, missed last 30 games
Peter Cehlarik – Lower body, missed last 15 games
David Krejci – Upper body, missed last 6 games


​

OTTAWA -- The Boston Bruins could be getting some help when they play the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night.

Center David Krejci and defenseman Adam McQuaid could play against the Senators, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy told the team's website. They both participated in a limited practice on Friday. McQuaid has missed 30 games with a broken right fibula. Krejci missed the past five games with an upper body injury.

"I just need to wake up (Saturday) and feel as well as I did today," Krejci said on the Bruins' official Twitter account. "All good. (Thursday) I felt really good. Today I felt good again today. If I wake up tomorrow and feel as good as I felt today, I'm pretty optimistic I'll be in the lineup."

"I feel like I'm pretty close," said McQuaid. "I'm continuing to feel better and better, so that's a good sign. I'm antsy to get back in there."

Said Cassidy: "Yes, a chance for both. If we like where they're at then, they will both be game-time decisions. We're not going to automatically assume because (Saturday) is a new day."

The Bruins, who had their five-game winning streak halted with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday, are two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for second place in the Atlantic Division and hold three games in hand. The Bruins are 7-1-2 in their past 10 games. The Bruins had leads of 2-0 and 3-2 against the Capitals, but couldn't hold them off.

"At the end of the day, they're a good team for a reason. Obviously, we want to extend leads, and we had opportunities to, we just didn't finish," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy told NHL.com.

Click to read more...

 

[Ratty]

Happy memories, skating on the Rideau Canal with Ken Hodge, other dads, and our kids playing in a tournament on a Kenny coached bantam team.

Hoping for more happy memories for tonight, say a repeat 5-1 blowout?

 

[Fenway]

Back in 2008 somebody in the Ottawa organization thought this was a good idea.

 

[Ladyfan]

Good night to stay home and watch the B's.

A nice win with no injuries please.

Stay warm everyone.

HERE WE GO BRUINS...HERE WE GO

 

[hrdpuk]

This would be a good two points to garner . OTT had a good game last night and will be hyped up to take the B's down tonight . B's have to be ready for this one.

 

[Rubber Biscuit]

Looks like Bjork will be the odd man out tonight if Krejci is good to go.

I would sit Schaller or Kuraly, move Nash to the 4th line, put Krejci in his spot and leave Spooner between Debrusk and Bjork

 

[Fenway]

HNIC Game of the Night: Bruins at Senators

With the entire Metro clogging up the wild-card race, Ottawa’s best path to the playoffs looks like it involves catching either the Bruins or Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic. That’s a tall order; the Sens came out of the break 13 points back of Boston and 14 behind Toronto. But sweep two regulation wins against the Bruins, and you get the gap down to single digits. That’s still a ton of ground, but at least it starts feeling manageable.

And so the Sens headed into Boston on Wednesday night looking to start their journey of a thousand miles with a single step. Instead, they stumbled through a 5-1 loss. And now, the situation feels critical. One regulation loss was a missed opportunity. Another might all but slam the door on catching the Bruins at all.

That’s not quite must-win territory – even if the Bruins pull away, there’s still the Maple Leafs or the wild card. Those may be better options no matter what happens, as the Bruins have quietly been one of the league’s better teams for much of the first half. They haven’t received enough credit for that, partly because their early record didn’t live up to how they were playing and partly because they spent the first few months having multiple games in hand on just about everyone. If you were only looking at the points column, they were an easy enough team to ignore.

They’re not being ignored anymore; five straight wins tends to do that. And it’s largely the young guys who are driving that success, with players like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Danton Heinen exceeding expectations. Brad Marchand keeps scoring, Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask keep making sure you can’t score, and the Bruins keep winning.

If there’s any good news from an Ottawa perspective, it’s this: The Senators should be desperate. We should see them come out with all guns blazing. Given the disparity between the two teams, that still may not be enough. And if it doesn’t happen, it will be fair to start asking some tough questions about the makeup of this team. You certainly can’t say that the stakes aren’t high heading into tonight.

 

[Blowfish]

Looks like Bjork will be the odd man out tonight if Krejci is good to go.

I would sit Schaller or Kuraly, move Nash to the 4th line, put Krejci in his spot and leave Spooner between Debrusk and Bjork

Where will Cehlarik slot in?

 

[Rubber Biscuit]

Where will Cehlarik slot in?

When (if) everyone's ready to play at the same time, my lines look like this:

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
Heinen-Krejci-Backes
Debrusk-Spooner-Bjork
*******-Nash-******

So you've got to fill two spots with Vatrano, Schaller, Acciari, Cehlarik. I'd probably start with Acciari and Cehlarik

 

[BruinDust]

Where will Cehlarik slot in?

He won't. Pretty clear with everyone healthy he's going back to Providence once he's cleared to play.

 

[TCB]

The Bruins catch the Sens on back to backs and will jump on them early an often to continue their Hot streak by beating the Sens for the 2nd time in 4 days and head into the new year with a 10-2-2 record for the month of December.

Go Bruins!

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

I am working tonight but will be able to watch the game when things are quiet ( sometime between 11 pm - 7 am ) . Enjoy the game ! I think this one will be closer but the Bruins will prevail 3-2 .

 

[Gee Wally]

Goalie strategy working out great for Bruins - The Boston Globe


OTTAWA – The Bruins will close out the calendar year here Saturday night against the Senators with a rested Tuukka Rask looking to build on his recent near-perfect 9-0-1 string of success.
Without a regulation loss since Nov. 15 (4-2 at Anaheim), Rask has returned to his elite No. 1 form. Anton Khudobin, the loser in OT Thursday in Washington, has chipped in with an impressive 8-2-3.
It took nearly two months to get there, but the Bruins finally appear to have the bedrock goaltending tandem that — all things remaining the same — will allow Rask to enter the playoffs in April without being chewed to bits in the 82-game regular-season meat grinder.
“It’s been great,” said Rask. “The thing we wanted to accomplish was to have two goalies going and both feeling fresh. That’s the main thing. I’ve felt fresh, and I am sure Doby’s felt fresh, too.”

 

[SPLBRUIN]

If Krejci stays healthy the B's really need to shop for a winger with size and scoring ability to play with him. Hopefully I'm wrong but I don't think Debrusk and Spooner are his ideal wingers, anyways very glad to see DK back in the lineup.

 

[BruinsFanMike82]

It looks like Danton Heinen will move up and swap with Ryan Spooner on the powerplay units tonight.

 

[Bruinfanatic]

Looks like Bjork will be the odd man out tonight if Krejci is good to go.

I would sit Schaller or Kuraly, move Nash to the 4th line, put Krejci in his spot and leave Spooner between Debrusk and Bjork

I had thought Bjork had been playing some pretty good hockey lately,wouldn’t have been my first choice to sit out.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

It looks like Danton Heinen will move up and swap with Ryan Spooner on the powerplay units tonight.

This excites me. Feed Heinen more chances to produce.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

If Krejci stays healthy the B's really need to shop for a winger with size and scoring ability to play with him. Hopefully I'm wrong but I don't think Debrusk and Spooner are his ideal wingers, anyways very glad to see DK back in the lineup.

Cehlarik and DeBrusk with Krejci were very good together.

 

[Bruinfanatic]

He won't. Pretty clear with everyone healthy he's going back to Providence once he's cleared to play.

I don’t know I like him with Krejci

 

[BruinDust]

I don’t know I like him with Krejci

I did too, I'd keep him up and dress him.

But with the roster crunch and everything else (not to mention him being hurt for weeks), I'd say he's going back down at least for a little bit.

 

[Ron Quixote]

Happy memories, skating on the Rideau Canal with Ken Hodge, other dads, and our kids playing in a tournament on a Kenny coached bantam team.

Ohman... our traveling teams did home-and-homes up there too. So many awesome times.

Go B's!

 

[Bruinfanatic]

I did too, I'd keep him up and dress him.

But with the roster crunch and everything else (not to mention him being hurt for weeks), I'd say he's going back down at least for a little bit.

Yeah guess having to many healthy bodies is a good thing though.

 

[Ron Quixote]

I'm viewing these lines/player juggling the staff is doing in a positive light.

Wins AND find a bunch of sweet combos.

My fantasy line is 63 - 37 - 74

 

[Square Hammer*]

Bjork being benched is a bad decision, IMO. He’s been playing well lately - I would have him in over Schaller.

 

[Bruinfanatic]

Cehlarik and DeBrusk with Krejci were very good together.

Agree