The Boston Bruins fell to their first Canadian opponent of the season on Saturday in a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
They will have a chance to get back on track with another foe from north of the border when the Ottawa Senators come to town Tuesday night.
Ottawa is dealing with a COVID outbreak on the team. They were forced to cancel practice yesterday ahead of the trip down to Boston and will be without a few players that were placed in COVID protocols.
It will be the first time these two teams face since late 2019, since both were in different division last season.
When: 7 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
TV: NESN
Stream: ESPN+
"Bruins projected linesMarchand-Bergeron-PastrnakHall-Coyle-SmithDeBrusk-Haula-StudnickaFrederic-Nosek-Lazar Forbort-McAvoyGrzelcyk-CarloReilly-Clifton SwaymanUlmark"
"Senators projected linesTkachuk-Norris-SanfordStützle-Paul-BathersonFormenton-Tierney-EnnisKelly-Shaw-Sokolov Chabot-ZaitsevBrannstrom-ZubDel Zotto-Brown MurrayGustafsson"
For the Senators, already without Shane Pinto and Colin White due to injuries, will not have Connor Brown, Nick Holden, Austin Watson, Dylan Gambrell and Victor Mete in the lineup Tuesday. All five are in COVID protocols due to the recent outbreak. Goaltender Anton Forsberg will miss the game with a non-COVID related illness.
Brown is third on the team in points with seven, sitting behind Drake Batherson (12) and Josh Norris (9), so it will be a tough blow to an Ottawa team that is struggling on offense. The team is averaging just 2.55 goals per game.
But the bigger concern for the Senators is the defense, which the Bruins should be able to exploit. Ottawa is allowing 3.64 goals per game, the third-highest amount in the league. On their current four-game losing streak, the Senators have allowed five goals in every game and are getting outscored 20-9.
Looking at the Bruins’ offense, Jack Studnicka is slotting in on the third line in the right wing spot. He’s had some good looks this season, getting time on the fourth line as well as the second-line center, but really hasn’t been given a fair opportunity. In his three games played, he is averaging 10:40 minutes of ice.
On the defensive side, Derek Forbort is getting another shot on the first defensive pairing, much ti the dismay of Bruins fans. We’ll see how long into this one that Bruce Cassidy goes with him and Charlie McAvoy.
It’s an opponent the Bruins should beat up on, and that is even without the COVID issues the Senators are dealing with. No excuse not to get back in the win column at home tonight against a weak Ottawa.