The Boston Bruins have little time to dwell on negatives.
A night after the Bruins’ season of ups and downs continued with a 5-1 road loss to the New Jersey Devils, Boston returns to home ice for a Thursday night matchup against the Atlantic Division rival Ottawa Senators.
Boston had been on a four-game point streak (3-0-1) prior to Wednesday, with the lone blemish coming when Ottawa overcame a late two-goal deficit to earn a 6-5 shootout win on Saturday.
“We’re trying to find an answer here and what we’re doing isn’t good enough. We know it,” Bruins forward Morgan Geekie said. “It’s embarrassing, frankly, just the way that we’re letting these games slip away.”
Geekie scored a first-period goal — his third tally in five games — that staked the Bruins to a 1-0 lead on Wednesday, but the Devils’ four-goal middle frame was Boston’s downfall.
Another David Pastrnak-Pavel Zacha connection set up the Bruins’ lone goal. Pastrnak has 12 of his 54 points in the past five games.
“They’re starting to heat up,” Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco said. “Obviously Pasta’s been heating up the last number of games here. … (Zacha) has the ability to make plays through the middle of the ice, so they seem to have that pretty good chemistry going right now.”
Boston allowed three power-play goals in a game for the seventh time this season, and the Bruins yielded 35 or more shots for the sixth time in the past eight contests — including 44 shots by Ottawa on Saturday.
Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman was pulled after two periods in New Jersey, having allowed four goals on 29 shots. He has managed a .912 save percentage over his past 12 starts (4-6-2).
“He was dealing with something minor, so we thought it would be best with how the game was going to get him out of there. We’ll see how he is (on Thursday),” Sacco said.
Wednesday marked Boston forward Trent Frederic’s second straight game out due to illness.
The Senators had a day off in Boston after taking a 5-0 road loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday, marking their first regulation defeat since Jan. 9 (5-1-1). It was their fourth time being shut out in a 10-game span and their second straight game being held to 20 shots.
The successful recent run put Ottawa in an Eastern Conference playoff position, but the Thursday rematch with Boston is a key game in the crowded Atlantic Division and wild-card races.
“There are 82 games and sometimes it doesn’t click as well. It’s about how you respond,” Senators forward Claude Giroux said. “For us, we have to keep doing what we’re doing and play hard and good defensively.”
Rookie goaltender Leevi Merilainen’s strong play in place of Linus Ullmark (back) has been important of late, especially given the team’s struggles to score at times. Merilainen is 6-3-1 with a 2.32 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage in 10 games.
Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk hopes to get back on track after going eight games without recording a point.
“It’s all about … finding a level to each individual’s game,” Tkachuk said. “I feel what’s best for me is putting that extra work in and knowing that I did absolutely everything possible to prepare.”
A mixed bag of injury news has Senators forward David Perron expected to return on Thursday, replacing Josh Norris, who is likely to miss at least a few games due to an upper-body injury.
Perron, who has played in just nine games and has not registered a point this season, is expected to provide a boost to coach Travis Green’s lineup.
“Good to have him back. He’s been out for a while now,” Green said. “Veteran leadership, obviously. Good hockey player.”
–Field Level Media
