Need to Know: Bruins at Senators

OTTAWA – The Bruins will be aiming for their third straight victory since the trade deadline when they visit the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

Boston has impressed since the departures of Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo, Trent Frederic, and Justin Brazeau, taking down Atlantic Division heavyweights Tampa and Florida to reignite the belief the Black & Gold could qualify for the postseason.

“We're all with the same mentality that no matter what moves are made the goal remains the same,” former Senator Mark Kastelic said following an optional pregame skate on Tuesday morning. “We're not gonna just give up even though we made some moves. We brought in a lot of good people. And I think we’re still a great hockey team. Everybody’s just hungry to continue to make the playoffs. That's been our mindset all along, so nothing has really changed.”

A third consecutive win will be no easy task for the Bruins, however, as they battle a Senators team that like them is fighting for their own spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Ottawa (34-25-5, 73 points) is holding steady as the East’s top wild card team with a three-point lead over Columbus, which sits in the second wild card position. The Bruins (30-28-8, 68 points) enter Thursday’s matchup two points behind Columbus, one point behind Montreal, and even with the Rangers and Red Wings.

“They’re playing well right now…they’re in a playoff spot so it’s gonna be a good challenge for us,” interim head coach Joe Sacco said of the Senators. “They have also played very well at home. Their record is they have a strong home record so we have to be ready from the start of the game here tonight.”

While the Bruins subtracted a bevy of major pieces from their lineup, Ottawa made its own changes, bringing in forward Dylan Cozens from Buffalo in exchange for longtime Senators forward Josh Norris. Cozens has two goals and an assist in three games with Ottawa.

Ottawa also acquired forward Fabian Zetterlund from San Jose.

“[The Senators are] definitely feeling good about their game right now,” said Kastelic. “They have a lot of speed. I think the biggest thing right now is they’re hungry and we’ve got to try to match that to the best of our abilities. We’re both fighting for playoff spots with each other. It’s a huge game to say the least.”

Wait, There’s More

• Sacco said he does not anticipate any lineup changes for the Bruins on Thursday night. Jeremy Swayman will get the start between the pipes against former goalie partner Linus Ullmark.
• Sacco on the defense pairing of Nikita Zadorov and Henri Jokiharju: “Joki’s done a good job, he’s been clean with his puck play for the most part. He’s able to execute well at the offensive blue line. They’ve just kind of fed off each other pretty well as far as one guy being a little bit more physical. The other one can settle things down sometimes with his puck play because he’s got the ability to make that first pass and help us come out of our D-zone. It’s been a pretty good fit.”
• Sacco on the play of Vinni Lettieri: “Vinni’s a good player. He’s a guy that we can use in different situations. Right now he’s playing on our second power play unit, he’s playing with [Casey Mittelstadt]. He can score, he has the ability to put the puck in the back of the net because he’s got a really good shot. Attention to detail away from the puck is something that we continue to talk about with all our guys, with Vinni too. When he’s dialed in and he’s good and his details are good away from the puck, he’s an effective player for us.”

Thursday’s Projected Lineup

FORWARDS

Morgan Geekie – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak

Marat Khusnutdinov – Elias Lindholm – Jakub Lauko

Cole Koepke – Casey Mittelstadt – Vinni Lettieri

Johnny Beecher – Patrick Brown – Mark Kastelic

DEFENSE

Nikita Zadorov – Henri Jokiharju

Mason Lohrei – Andrew Peeke

Parker Wotherspoon – Ian Mitchell

GOALIES

Jeremy Swayman

Joonas Korpisalo