The Bruins have been starting to click as of late, but they’re not exactly where they want to be just yet. While they are riding a four-game winning streak, there’s still plenty of room for improvement, and they’ll look to find that Friday night in Ottawa.
The B’s put their winning streak on the line in their first meeting against the Senators this season. They’re hoping to get more balanced scoring as they begin a three-game road trip.
Boston has received plenty of production out of the first line this season, as that line hasn’t missed a beat despite a new face in Jarome Iginla on the right wing. Production has also come from the Boston blue line. Bruins defensemen have combined for 13 of the team’s 51 goals this season.
They started to see a little bit more balanced production Thursday night against Columbus when Shawn Thornton scored a second-period goal. Daniel Paille also scored during the homestand, which gives the Merlot Line two goals in as many games.
So, you look to the second and third lines to really get things going. The second line has struggled to find chemistry this season, while Brad Marchand‘s inconsistent play and Loui Eriksson‘s injury made that quest even more difficult. On the third line, the chances are there, it’s just a matter of burying them at this point. Carl Soderberg continues to show improvement after playing one of his best games of the year Thursday night. If he can start to build off that and finish his chances, the club will only get better.
That balanced scoring would be one of the few things that can really help this team start to realize its full potential.
Here are the projected lines for Thursday’s games.
Bruins (12-5-1, 25 points)
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Brad Marchand — Patrice Bergeron — Loui Eriksson
Carl Soderberg — Chris Kelly — Reilly Smith
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg — Torey Krug
Matt Bartkowski — Johnny Boychuk
Tuukka Rask
Senators (7-7-4, 18 points)
Milan Michalek — Jason Spezza — Cory Conacher
Clarke MacArthur — Kyle Turris — Bobby Ryan
Colin Greening — Zack Smith — Chris Neil
Matt Kassian — Derek Grant — Mika Zibanejad
Marc Methot — Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen — Eric Gryba
Chris Phillips — Mark Borowiecki
Craig Anderson
