The Senators come to town a bit shorthanded with a number of players in COVID-19 protocol, including forwards Connor Brown and Dylan Gambrell and defenseman Nick Holden. As a result, forward Egor Sokolov was recalled from Belleville (AHL) and will make his NHL debut.
Per coach D.J. Smith, defenseman Victor Mete's status is also in question as he awaits further testing.
Ottawa has dropped four straight games entering Tuesday night's contest and is 3-7-1 on the season. Winger Drake Batherson paces the Sens with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 11 games this season, while Josh Norris leads the club with six goals.
Defenseman Thomas Chabot is the Sens' anchor on the back end, as he leads the team in time on ice with an average of 26:17 per game.
In goal, Matt Murray and Anton Forsberg have split time with four games a piece so far this season. Smith said on Tuesday morning he was not yet ready to divulge which netminder would get the call against the Bruins.
"They play hard. I think D.J. Smith wants a team that's hard to play against," said Cassidy. "Obviously they're not where they need to be with experience in those close games. Seems like a team that's still learning how to play with the lead, win, close out games, or stay in games if it's not going their way. There's still growing pains.
"I think they're going through some different goaltending challenges as well. Once they square those away, it makes your team better automatically. But good young talent, play hard. I don't know what to expect tonight. I know they have a few younger guys in the lineup because they got hit with COVID a little bit."
