Boston Bruins @ Ottawa Senators, Thursday, April 5, 2012, 7:30 PM EST

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Who:Bostn Bruins @ Ottawa Senators
When: Thursday, April 5, 2012, 7:30 PM EST
Where: FSCR, RSNE

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The Story:

Potential first round playoff series between the 2nd seed Stanley Cup Bruins and 7th seed Senators.

The Bruins lead the season series 4-1.

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Ottawa (41-29-10)

Ottawa is 2nd in the Northeast (7th in the Eastern Conference) with 92 in 80. The Sens are 20-16-4 at home this season. Over their last 10 games they are 5-4-1 .

Ottawa had their 4 game winning streak snapped after a 2-1 Loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday.

Sens missed Sergei Gonchar who sat out last game with a lower body injury. He will play tonight and Matt Gilroy will be scratched.

Team Leaders:

Goals: Milan Michalek [35]
Assists: Erik Karlsson [58]
Points: Jason Spezza [83]
PIMs: Zenon Kenopka [193]
+/-: Flip Kuba [28]

Player(s)-to-Watch:

Karlsson still on the hunt to hit or break 80 points on the season, to become the highest scoring Swedish born defenceman.

Starting Line-up:

Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Milan Michalek
Nick Foligno - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Zack Smith - Jim O'Brien- Chris Neil
Erik Condra - Jesse Winchester - Rob Klinkhammer

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Chris Phillips - Sergei Gonchar
Jared Cowen - Matt Carkner

Ben Bishop

Injuries:

Peter Regin

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Boston (47-29-4)

Boston is 2nd in the Eastern Conference and 1st in the N.E. division with 98 pts in 80 games.

Coming off of a 5-3 loss to the Penguins Tuesday, the Bruins are 24-15-1 on the road and are 7-2-1 over their last ten games.

Boston will be resting a few veterans heading into the playoffs as captain Zdeno Chara, Vezina winner Tim Thomas and Patrice Bergeron will sit out tonight's game.

Team Leaders:

Goals: Tyler Seguin/Brad Marchand [27]
Assists: Zdeno Chara [40]
Points: Tyler Seguin [65]
PIMs: Shawn Thornton [147]
+/-: Patrice Bergeron [34]

Player(s)-to-Watch:



Starting Line-up:

Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand - Lane MacDermid - Tyler Seguin
Benoit Pouliot - Chris Kelly - Brian Rolston
Daniel Paille - Gregory Campbell - Shawn Thornton

Dennis Seidenberg - Andrew Ference
Greg Zanon - Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug - Joe Corvo

Anton Khudobin

Injuries:

Nathan Horton, Marc Savard

Wow, look at that nice healthy Sens lineup. Quite the bonus heading into the playoffs. Hopefully I didn't just jinx that.

tim1_2 wrote:Wow, look at that nice healthy Sens lineup. Quite the bonus heading into the playoffs. Hopefully I didn't just jinx that.

Season. Over.

Gonchar isn't "healthy". With the B's resting some important vets, should the Sens do so as well?

Don't agree with sitting Anderson. The man hasn't beaten the Bruins at all this season, he had a great chance tonight before the playoffs

Gonchar is on the ice, could play tonight.

Riprock wrote:Gonchar is on the ice, could play tonight.

TONIGHT?!?!?!?!?!

Riprock wrote:Gonchar is on the ice, could play tonight.

I think what you mean is, Gilroy may NOT play tonight - which is a bonus for us and a negative for the Bs.

So Maclean confirms Bishop starts; Karlsson and Kuba in; Gilroy out for Gonchar.

Playoff-like roster for the Sens apart from Bishop.

http://www.senatorsextra.com/main/playoff-roster-for-senators-tonight

Sweet. Here we go boys!

Michallica wrote:Don't agree with sitting Anderson. The man hasn't beaten the Bruins at all this season, he had a great chance tonight before the playoffs

It's more about giving Bishop game time after his injury and before the playoffs start. He needs to test it out to make sure he's ready to go if needed.

shabbs wrote:

Michallica wrote:Don't agree with sitting Anderson. The man hasn't beaten the Bruins at all this season, he had a great chance tonight before the playoffs

It's more about giving Bishop game time after his injury and before the playoffs start. He needs to test it out to make sure he's ready to go if needed.

Exactly.

You always want your #2 to be in game shape too. Anything can happen with your #1.

This will be Anton Khudobin's first NHL action this season.

This game will likely not be an indicator of what to expect in the playoffs, considering the lineups, but Sens could benefit from setting the tone early and hitting hard.