The Ottawa Senators are back on the road in an Atlantic Division rivalry matchup with the Boston Bruins. Puckdrop is at 7pm from the NHL Network, NESEN, and CITY.

This is the first regular season contest between the two teams since the offseason blockbuster seeing Linus Ullmark come to Ottawa for Joonas Korpisalo and Mark Kastelic.

Boston has not been off to the best start, having gone below 0.500 for the first time in years. The roster turnover was a hurdle, but delaying the contract extension of goalie Jermey Swayman did not help their cause. The biggest success factor thus far for them has been the Kastelic line with Koepke and Beecher.

The Bruins also added Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadarov through free agency this summer; and Tyler Johnson last week was a signing after being with the club in camp on a tryout.

Brad Marchand and David Pasternak have both been snake bitten by their usual efforts, and coach Jim Montgomery has made it clear it is unacceptable through media callouts and benchings.

With the Bruins hoping to get back to their winnning ways, they host one of the worst road teams in the show.

Ottawa comes in town with a two game losing skid, dropping their last home and road appearances. The only game the Senators have won away from their barn has been the new building in Utah.

This type of showing for the Seantors cannot continue if they are hoping for playoffs. Travis Green is building “82 game players” out of the room. The efforts on the ice and in the record books show a 41 game player, only on home ice.

Tonight has a lot of spotlight on both teams. This is the first time the former Senators’ skaters play their old team. For Ullmark, this is his first time back in Boston for a regular season game since the summer. The Veznia winner will get his tribute video like everyone else does nowadays.

Expect an Ullmark v Swayman duel in the cages for the clubs this evening.

Starting Lineups

Boston Bruins

Tyler Johnson — Pavel Zacha — David Pasternak
Brad Marchand—Elias Lindholm—Justin Brazeau
Cole Koepke—Charlie Coyle—Matthew Poitras
John Beecher—Mark Kastelic—Trent Frederic

Nikita Zadarov—Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm—Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei—Parker Wotherspoon

Jeremy Swayman
Joonas Korpisalo

Scratched — Morgan Geekie

Injured — Andrew Peeke (upper-body)


Ottawa Senators

Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Ridly Greig

Claude Giroux -- Josh Norris -- Drake Batherson

Noah Gregor -- Zack Ostapchuk -- Michael Amadio

Nick Cousins -- Adam Gaudette -- Zack MacEwen

Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub

Thomas Chabot -- Nick Jensen

Tyler Kleven -- Travis Hamonic

Linus Ullmark

Anton Forsberg

Scratched: David Perron, Jacob Bernard-Docker

Injured: Shane Pinto (undisclosed)


Players to Watch

Boston — Mark Kastelic — the former Sens’ forward has 7 points in 15 games with his new club. He is 5 points away from passing his previous career high from his time in Ottawa. Sure, Marchand and Pasternak would have been the easy choices to go with, but the former is the right call on this night.

Ottawa — Nick Cousins — one of many teams he has previously upset in his quest for the cup. All 4 points he has earned with the Seantors have come in his last 6 games.

Predicted Final Score

BOS — 3

OTT — 2

Overtime

More to come…

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