The Boston Bruins will aim to ignite their sputtering offense Saturday night when they conclude a four-game road trip by facing the Ottawa Senators.
The Bruins have mustered just six goals during their past five contests (1-3-1), and that includes a 2-0 victory over the Senators last Saturday in the opener of the four-game trek.
Boston followed that promising outing with a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday and a 4-1 setback to the Islanders two nights later.
Brad Marchand, who leads the team in assists (28) and points (49), has missed the last four contests while serving a six-game suspension, exacerbating Boston’s scoring woes.
“It’s kind of been like that all year,” said Taylor Hall, who scored the Bruins’ only goal Thursday. “Even when Brad is in the lineup, it’s not like we’re beating teams 6-5 or 4-3; it’s usually a 3-2 win or 3-1 or 4-1 with an empty-netter, those kind of games that we have to be comfortable playing.”
On a bright note, team captain Patrice Bergeron returned from a three-game absence (upper-body injury) and won 12 of 18 faceoffs while putting two shots on goal against the Islanders.
“Bergy, he’s the best. He makes the game so easy,” Hall said. “I’ve never seen a player that’s in the right spot all the time, offensively too. It’s incredible for someone to be that dialed in in his own zone and then skate 150 feet and be in prime scoring areas that he is. It’s so much fun to play with him. It’s eye-opening whenever I do play on a line with him how easy the game does feel.”
The Bruins are 2-0 against Ottawa this season. In the first meeting, in Boston on Nov. 9, Bergeron scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period in the 3-2 victory.
Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves in that contest, and when the teams met again last Saturday, he turned aside all 30 Senators’ shots to record his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career.
That was the second game in a row Ottawa had been blanked at home, following a 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh, but the Senators have responded by winning of two of their last three games.
Zach Sanford ended a 12-game goal drought Thursday in the Senators’ 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Austin Watson returned from a two-game suspension and broke a 1-1 tie against the Sabres in the third period, marking his first goal since Dec. 14.
“It’s nice when you get rewarded with a goal, especially late in a tight hockey game,” Watson said. “(Last week) I talked about depth scoring, you can’t rely on the big guys all the time. So that’s the perfect time for your bottom-six, so to speak, to chip in with a goal.”
Captain Brady Tkachuk, who is a top-six forward, sealed the win by scoring into an empty net. Tkachuk leads the team with 36 points, and his goal total (16) trails only injured center Josh Norris (18), who is reportedly at least another week from returning.
The Ottawa Sun reported there is a strong possibility that top goaltender Matt Murray (undisclosed injury) will play either on Saturday or in Sunday’s game against the visiting Rangers. Also, top defenseman Thomas Chabot (undisclosed) could return Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.
–Field Level Media