The Boston Bruins continue their grueling March schedule with an important road matchup against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
The Bruins are off to a good start in March with a 2-0-1 record, and the team’s confidence level has risen as a result.
“I think that everyone kind of breathed a little better knowing that the trade deadline is over and this is our team for the rest of the year,” Bruins forward Brad Marchand said Sunday. “I think we all have a lot of confidence with the group that we have, and we know that anything can happen as long as we all put in our best effort and come together.”
Ottawa is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games and can clinch the season series versus Boston with a third consecutive win against the Original Six club. A win for the Senators would put them just three points behind the Bruins (with one game in hand, too) for the last wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Tuukka Rask, who’s celebrating his 28th birthday Tuesday, is likely to start in net for Boston after resting Sunday. He’s 26-16-10 with a 2.34 goals against average and a .920 save percentage on the season.
The Senators will start veteran Craig Anderson in net. He’s 14-11-7 with a 2.42 goals against average and a .926 save percentage. Anderson also is 1-0 against the Bruins this campaign.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON BRUINS (33-22-10, fourth in Atlantic)
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Max Talbot
Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg-Matt Bartkowski
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid
Tuukka Rask
OTTAWA SENATORS (30-23-11, sixth in Atlantic)
Milan Michalek-Kyle Turris-Mark Stone
Mike Hoffman-Mika Zibanejad-Bobby Ryan
Matt Puempel-David Legwand-Alex Chiasson
Erik Condra-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Curtis Lazar
Marc Methot-Erik Karlsson
Patrick Wiercioch-Cody Ceci
Mark Borowiecki-Eric Gryba
Craig Anderson
Thumbnail photo via Billy Hurst/USA TODAY Sports Images
