Ottawa Senators

Game Day: Bruins @ Senators - Don't go down 2-0 at home!
April 15, 2017, 9:14 AM ET [26 Comments]
Jared Crozier
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The Ottawa Senators will go into Saturday afternoon's game with the goal of doing what Montreal and Edmonton both did on Friday. After all Canadian teams lost their first games of round 1, they are 2-0 in game 2's after the Habs and Oilers both won on home ice to get a split.

If Ottawa is going to follow suit, they don't need to change much, but just do things better. If they get a lead, they can't sit back on it and try to defend for extended periods of time without trying to extend the lead.

They also need to put some lines together and give them some time to gel. But it doesn't look like that is going to happen. From practice on Friday, the lines were mixed up yet again, and Victor Stalberg and Tommy Wingels appeared set to be replaced by Chris Kelly and Ryan Dzingel, but Guy Boucher stated after the skate that you can't read anything into what goes on at practice.

"If we start the game and I don’t like a line, then we switch it after five minutes.” - Guy Boucher


That is a little concerning and certainly explains why the same lines don't come out more than a couple of times in a row.

Ottawa played a solid game but self-admittedly they stopped pressing in the third period, and once Boston tied it up they had a tough time gearing back up and going for it, instead sitting back and trying to defend. That cost them the game, and hopefully they will learn from it and it doesn't happen again.

They also have to make the life of the Bruins' defensemen more difficult on the forecheck. Zdeno Chara isn't the force he used to be, and Charlie McAvoy's debut didn't feature enough pressure from the Ottawa forwards to see if he could handle the tough going.

Boston will probably be without David Krejci again and also Colin Miller, who left Game 1 after colliding with Mark Borowiecki in the neutral zone. Already without Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo, the Bruins blue line is thin and Ottawa needs to take advantage of that.

Bobby Ryan had a standout game 1, and if Ottawa is going to win they need more players playing with the intensity he showed (it is not very often I have been able to say that), and for the whole game. Marc Methot will be a game-time decision to return from the finger injury suffered at the stick of Sidney Crosby.