After experiencing the pains of the six-game losing streak, the Boston Bruins are currently on a four-game winning streak and have won five out of their last six. The only blemish during the recent streak was a 7-2 blowout loss to the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 27.
On Thursday night at the TD Garden, the Bruins will get another shot at the Senators and look for some revenge. Head coach Marco Sturm is expecting a response from his team against their division foes.
“It was a pretty bad game from us,'' said Sturm. "That was the first time I didn’t feel any energy on the bench, especially going into the third. We can throw it away, but I also think we learn from it. That we can’t play like that. We can’t take a period or two off because the league is that good. That should be motivation enough for us (today) to show an answer. Because that was not us.”
No, it wasn't them, and since that day, Boston has ripped for four straight wins with Hampus Lindholm in the lineup. He returned and took Mason Lohrei's spot, and for the fifth straight game, Sturm will run out a lineup that looks the same as recent ones and doesn't include his young defenseman.
Bruins Mason Lohrei will miss another game vs. Senators
Against Ottawa, Sturm will run with his same defensive pairing that has had a lot of success recently. Nikita Zadorov and Charlie McAvoy will be paired together again, while Lindholm and Andrew Peeke will be the second pairing, with Jonathan Aspirot and Henri Jokiharju will be the third pairing.
You can't blame Sturm for not wanting to run out again, what has been working. As for Lohrei, he was struggling before being scratched against the New York Islanders on Oct. 28, and he remains as the team's seventh defenseman. What the future holds for him remains to be seen, but the longer he sits out, you wonder what the future is.