The Bruins picked up a much-needed two points Saturday afternoon with a shutout win against the Senators, and it proved to be a big victory.
Ottawa may have just 16 wins on the season, and, theoretically, a team like Boston should beat the Sens. But the B’s are without two of their top-line players in Patrice Bergeron (head laceration) and Brad Marchand (suspended) along with defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (upper-body) and just got molly whopped by the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.
As it stands, the Bruins sit fourth in the Atlantic Division, are six points behind the third-place Toronto Maple Leafs and seven points ahead of the fifth-place Detroit Red Wings. A loss Saturday would have had the B’s just five points ahead of Detroit and eight points behind Toronto.
The Red Wings slowly are starting to creep in on Boston, winning their last two games and going 5-4-1 in their last 10.
The Bruins are looking at a tough schedule ahead and could be without Marchand until Feb. 24. There is little rest between games and to not have Bergeron and Marchand for a stretch of games certainly is not ideal, but Saturday’s win should provide at least a little hope for fans.
Boston got goals from Trent Frederic (with help from a slick move by Charlie Coyle) and Curtis Lazar, Jeremy Swayman stopped all 30 shots to earn his second shutout of the season and, despite some tough officiating, the Bruins didn’t get frustrated, kept their composure and scored some gritty goals.
Additionally, the fourth line was clicking after getting called out by head coach Bruce Cassidy, Swayman returned to form and the B’s looked like a team ready to go on a run.
Now more than ever is when the Bruins need to have that next-man-up mentality, and they showed that Saturday. They will look to carry that momentum over into Tuesday’s game against the New York Rangers.
