The road through the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference goes through Ottawa with the Senators. Currently having a firm hold on the spot, the Senators will host the Boston Bruins Thursday night and they will be looking to do what the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have failed to do, beat the new-look Black and Gold after the trade deadline.
One day after trading Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Brandon Carlo at the deadline, the Bruins went out and shut out the Lightning, 4-0, in one of the more head-scratching results of the season. Then Tuesday night happened. Trailing the Panthers 2-0 with 12 minutes left in the third period against Florida, goals from David Pastrnak, Mason Lohrei and Pavel Zacha secured a stunning 3-2 come-from-behind win. It ended with Nikita Zadorov pounding Sam Bennett with three seconds left, to Bruins fans delight.
How to watch Boston Bruins at Ottawa Senators with & without cable
This is the fourth and final matchup between the two teams with the Bruins 1-0-2 against their Atlantic Division foe. One of the most frustrating losses of the season happened in January when the Bruins held a late 5-3 third-period lead, only to see Ottawa tie the game late with two goals, including the tying strike with 12 seconds left. The Sens ended up winning the game in a shootout.
If the Bruins end up missing the postseason by a couple of points, that game and a few others will be why. This game will be broadcast on NESN, ESPN+, or FuboTV.
The last two games, you can’t deny that the Bruins haven’t been a fun team to watch. Has it been pretty? No, but that’s the way they’ll have to play games and win them over the final 16 this season.
They will get one more shot at former teammate Linus Ullmark between the pipes as he will look to put a better strangle hold on an Ottawa postseason berth, get some revenge on his former team, and hurt their chances. He has a chance to do the funniest thing to his former team and bury them deeper in the postseason chase.