Boston Bruins: Forwards need to take advantage of Ottawa’s defense

Can the Boston Bruins offense bounce back Monday night against the Ottawa Senators?

After a successful home stand, the Boston Bruins start a four-game road trip Monday night against the Ottawa Senators. The trip also includes matchups with Washings, Tampa Bay, and Florida.

Monday will be the third meeting this year between Boston and Ottawa. Both games resulted in two points for the Bruins.

In the first game, the Bruins outplayed the Senators pretty much from start to finish. Boston emerged with a 5-2 win thanks to three points from David Pastrnak and two points each from Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

The offense was quieter in game number two. Ottawa held Boston scoreless through two periods, but then Marchand and Zdeno Chara scored two goals in less than four minutes for the 2-1 victory.

To beat Ottawa for a third time on Monday, the Bruins need their offense to look more like it did in the first matchup.

The Bruins come off one of their worst offensive showings of the year Saturday night against the Avalanche. Boston scored the first goal of the game, but that was it. Colorado held the Bruins to one goal on only 20 shots.

Fortunately, the Bruins have a great chance to bounce back against the Senators. They should, and probably will, score more than one goal against Ottawa’s defense.

Ottawa is near the bottom of the league in team defense. The Senators gave up 95 goals in 30 games so far this season, 23rd in the league. By comparison, the Bruins only have 73 goals against through the same amount of games.

Furthermore, the Senators concede a lot of shots on goal and scoring chances. They give up around 32 shots on goal per game, a number that’s above the league average. This spells trouble given that both starting goaltenders have a goals-against average above 3.00.

All these stats mean the Bruins have a great chance to find their offense in Ottawa. The Bruins hope to get Bergeron back in the lineup, something that will give them much-needed depth of front. This allows David Krejci to slide back into a second-line role, where he can really dominate his matchups.

Even if Boston chooses to hold Bergeron out a little longer, there still should be offensive fireworks. Boston averages 3.5 goals per game, while Ottawa concedes a little over 3 per game.

The Bruins need a fast start against Ottawa, because if they play with the lead, the Senators don’t have the depth up front to battle back. With tough matchups against playoff teams on the horizon, expect a strong showing from Boston in Ottawa.