(SportsNetwork.com) – The Boston Bruins take aim at a successful start to a
four-game homestand on Saturday night as they play host to the Ottawa
Senators.
The Bruins return home after picking up a 3-2 overtime victory against the
Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, getting a pair of goals from Brad Marchand and 13
saves by backup netminder Niklas Svedberg.
Marchand, who also assisted on Adam McQuaid’s goal, deflected a Loui Eriksson
shot for a game-tying goal with 5:30 to play, then one-timed a feed from
Reilly Smith past Sabres goaltender Jhonas Enroth at the 1:20 mark of
overtime.
The Bruins bounced back from a 4-3 loss to Minnesota on Tuesday that dropped
them to just 2-4-0 at home this season. Thursday’s win was their fourth in six
games overall.
“I’m looking for consistency in our game,” said Boston head coach Claude
Julien. “Being able to play three periods fairly consistent is what we’re
looking for.”
Julien inserted defenseman Joe Morrow into the lineup for his NHL debut.
Boston’s coach has had to juggle his blue line due to injuries to Zdeno Chara
(knee), Torey Krug (finger) and Kevan Miller (shoulder).
The Senators followed up a quick two-game swing with Thursday’s 5-4 shootout
loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. Mika Zibanejad netted his first goal of the
season for Ottawa to tie the game with 2:08 left in regulation, but Chicago’s
Patrick Sharp had the lone tally in the tiebreaker.
Bobby Ryan, Clarke MacArthur and Mark Stone added goals for the Senators, who
have managed to grab a point in seven of their first nine games (5-2-2).
Craig Anderson stopped 35 shots in defeat.
“We fought hard to the end of the game,” said Zibanejad. “They’re a good team
over there and we stuck with our plan. Would have been nice to get the win,
but rallying back there at the end was nice.”
The Senators split four meetings with the Bruins last season, but have lost 15
of the last 19 in the series.
Boston outscored Ottawa 12-2 in winning its two home games last season in this
series and have taken eight of the last 10 played in Beantown.
