OTTAWA SENATORS NOTES:
LAST GAME: March 20, 2-1 win at Pittsburgh: In his first NHL appearance since 2017, Ferguson made 48 saves to help lead Ottawa to a 2-1 win at PPG Paints Arena. The victory marked Ottawa’s first victory at Pittsburgh since 4/13/14. Chabot opened the game’s scoring with his 52nd career goal to eclipse Chara for sole possession of the fourth most by a defenceman in Senators’ history. Pittsburgh saw a marker from Rakell at 14:39 of the third period before Batherson tallied his team-high 14th power-play goal of the year with 2:09 remaining in regulation to give him the second most such goals by an Ottawa skater in the last 10 years. Jarry made 19 saves in taking the loss for the Penguins. Scratches: Holden, Kastelic; Injuries: Forsberg, Joseph, Kelly, Norris, Talbot; Shots: OTT – 21, PIT – 49; PP: OTT – 1-2, PIT – 0-3.
BROADCAST INFORMATION: This evening’s game against Boston will be broadcast regionally on TSN5 and RDS2. On the radio, the game will be available locally via TSN 1200 (English) and 94,5 Unique-FM (French).
WHAT’S NEXT: Ottawa returns home to face Tampa Bay on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. The contest will mark the second of three regular-season meetings and the first of two matchups at Canadian Tire Centre.
INJURY REPORT: G Forsberg, C Norris and G Talbot are on IR and will not oppose the Bruins this evening. F Joseph and F Kelly have missed the last four games with lower-body injuries. Total man-games lost: 248.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS: Recalled G Ferguson and re-assigned G Mandolese from/to Belleville (AHL) on March 19.
OTTAWA vs. BOSTON – History:
2022-23 (2-1-0): Oct. 18 @ Ottawa (7-5 win), Dec. 27 @ Ottawa (3-2 SO win), Feb. 20 @ Boston (3-1 loss), March 21 @ Boston
2021-22 (1-2-1): 11/9/21 @ Boston (3-2 loss), 2/12/22 @ Ottawa (2-0 loss), 2/19/22 @ Ottawa (3-2 OT loss), 4/14/22 @ Botston (3-2 win)
Series record: Overall: 56-80-8-8; Home: 31-36-3-5; Away: 25-44-5-3
Last Ottawa win: @ Ottawa: Dec. 27 (3-2 SO); @ Boston: 4/14/22 (3-2)
Last Boston win: @ Ottawa: 2/19/22 (3-2 OT); @ Boston: Feb. 20 (3-1)
Last OT result: 2/19/22 (3-2 OT loss) @ Ottawa
Last shootout: Dec. 27 (3-2 SO win) @ Ottawa
Most goals, game: Scored: 7, (Oct. 18, 7-5 win); Allowed: 8, (4/13/94, 8-0 loss); Both teams: 12, (Oct. 18, 7-5 win)
Last Game: Feb. 20, 3-1 loss @ Boston; OTT Goal: Giroux; BOS Goals: Pastrnak (x2), DeBrusk; OTT Scratches: Brassard,
Heatherington; OTT Injuries: Forsberg, Holden, Norris, Sanderson, Talbot; OTT Goalie: Mandolese; BOS Goalie: Ullmark; OTT PP: 0-3; BOS PP: 0-4; Shots: 31-32.
Career vs. Boston: Giroux leads all players in career games played (53), in goals (12), in assists (26), in points (38) and in penalty minutes (30) against Boston.
ROAD SCHOLARS: The Senators have a record of 15-18-2 on the road this season … Claude Giroux, Stützle and Brady Tkachuk lead with 13 goals on the road this season while Tkachuk ranks first with 20 assists while the Senators serve as visitors … Through 35 road games this season, Tkachuk maintains the club lead with 33 points … The Senators registered an 18-20-3 record over 41 road contests in 2021-22.
BACK-TO-BACK GAMES: Ottawa will play back-to-back games on 12 occasions in 2022-23 and will conclude their 11th set of the season this evening when the team visits Boston … The Senators played 17 back-to-back sets last season and earned a record of 6-9-2 in the first half of contests on consecutive nights (7-4-0 this season) while posting an 8-8-1 record (6-4-0 this season) in the second half of games on consecutive days.
ON THE POWER PLAY: The Senators are 63 for 263 (24.0%) on the power-play in 2022-23 … Drake Batherson leads with 14 powerplay goals while atherson, Alex DeBrincat and Tkachuk maintain the club lead with 26 points while the team enjoys a man advantage … Ottawa has recorded multiple power-play goals 16 times in an individual contest in 2022-23 after having done so 11 times in 2021-22.
ON THE PENALTY KILL: Ottawa has overcome 208 of the 252 occasions the team has been shorthanded in 2022-23 to maintain an efficiency of 82.5% through 70 regular-season games … The team has registered nine (Stützle x3, Watson x3, Joseph x2, Motte) shorthanded markers this season after recording nine such goals in 2021-22.
BOSTON BRUINS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME
- The Bruins host the Senators tonight in the 4th and final game between these teams this season and the 2nd of 2 Ottawa visits to TD Garden.
- They are 53-11-5 overall this season and they are 27-3-3 on home ice … The Bruins are 29-7-3 vs Eastern Conference opponents.
- This is the 12th 50-win season in Bruins history … It is their second straight 50-win campaign and the most since 4 straight from 1970-71—1973-74 … The total at the 64-game mark were the fastest 50 wins in NHL history.
- The Bruins open a 3-game home stand tonight vs. Ottawa, continuing with Montreal on 3/23 and Tampa Bay on 3/25.
RECENT GAMES:
- The Bruins have won their last 3 games with a 3-0 in Winnipeg on 3/16, 5-3 in Minnesota on 3/18 and 7-0 win in Bufffalo on 3/19 … They are 4-3-0 in their last 7 games following a 10-game win from 2/14-3/4 which was tied for the 5th-longest win streak in team history.
- The Bruins are 8-2-0 in their last 10 home games.
- The Bruins are 10-2-0 in their last 12 road games and are 19-4-2 in their last 25 road games, also including a 9-0-1 road point streak from 12/11-1/24 and 7-game win streak from 2/1-28.
- Boston 3 at Winnipeg 0 … Trent Frederic (GW), Pavel Zacha and Tomas Nosek (EN) scored goals and Jeremy Swayman earned his 3rd shutout of the season in the win … SOG: Bos 24, Wpg 36 … PP: 0/3 … PK: 0/5
- Boston 5 at Minnesota 2 … Took a 3-1 lead en route to a 5-2 win with goals by Jake DeBrusk, David Pastrnak (PP, 1-1=2 totals), David Krejci (GW), Patrice Bergeron (1-1=2 totals) and Trent Frederic (ENG) … Brad Marchand had 3 assists … Linus Ullmark earned his 200th NHL win in net … SOG: Bos 38, Min 31 … PP: 1/4 … PK: 1/5
- Boston 7 at Buffalo 0 … Patrice Bergeron (GW, 1-2=3 totals) scored 0:15 into the game followed by goals from Garnet Hathaway, Jake DeBrusk (1-3=4), Hampus Lindholm, David Pastrnak (PP), Charlie Coyle (1-1=2), and Charlie McAvoy (1-1=2) … Brad Marchand and Connor Clifton added 2A each … SOG: Bos 25, Buf 26 … PP: 1/3 …PK: 0/4
INJURIES (Total man-games lost in 2022-23: 101)
- Derek Forbort – Lower body
- Taylor Hall: Lower body (LTIR)
- Nick Foligno: Lower body (IR)
BOSTON vs OTTAWA, LIFETIME SERIES
- The Bruins and Senators are meeting for the 153rd time in their histories with the Bruins having an 88-44-8-12 record and 482-378 scoring edge in those games.
- They are 47-21-5-4 vs. Ottawa on home ice with a 262-194 scoring advantage.
FUN FACTS
- The Bruins currently have 25 players on their roster (1 IR, 1 LTIR) … 12 were drafted by the team, 7 were acquired in trade and 6 were signed as free agents.
- The Bruins play 16 matinees this season (local start time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have a 10-2-1 record in afternoon games so far.
- The Bruins play 14 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 9-0-2 in the 1st game of those sets and are 8-3-0 in the 2nd games so far.
- The Bruins are playing game 9 of their 15-game March schedule tonight (9 hm/6 rd, 6-3-0) … They will play 7 in April (3 hm/4 rd) … They went 8-1-0 in October, 11- 2-0 in November, 9-1-4 in December, 10-3-1 in January and 9-1-0 in February.
