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Salvaging a disastrous road swing in Ottawa

February 25, 2012, 4:34 PM ET [12 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
A win tonight and the Bruins head back to Boston with a .500 record on their six-game road swing. Seriously? It just doesn't seem like that's the way things have gone for the beyond slumping B's.

Following a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues -- putting an end to the Blues' two and a half month long home (regulation) winning streak -- the same ole' B's showed up to First Niagara Center last night, falling to Ryan Mller and the Buffalo Sabres in the shootout, 2-1. Zdeno Chara would score the Bruins' lone goal, and after failing to convert on a power-play that gave them a significant chunk of change on the man-advantage in overtime, Derek Roy's shootout marker and subsequent Benoit Pouliot dud would spoil Boston's bid for extra point.

"We haven't played consistently over the past couple of weeks. But I think against St. Louis we played a great game, and today we played a good game," Tuukka Rask said after the shootout loss, his sixth straight loss.

It's now been 19 games since Boston's won back-to-back games. While that can't be changed tonight, tonight's visit to the Scotiabank Place for a match-up with Alex Auld and the Senators is Boston's lone chance (and the closest thing they've had to a 'gimme') to salvage the road swing that included just two contests against playoff caliber clubs.

Heading to Ottawa with a 3-0-0 record against the Sens this year, the nod in the cage will go to the 37-year-old Tim Thomas. Stopping 30 of 32 in on Wednesday against the Blues, the 'Thomas Kills the Senators' story-line looks to continue as he leads the Bruins in the House that Alfredsson Built.

In 15 career starts at Scotiabank, Thomas has 10 wins with a superhuman .943 save-percentage and 1.92 goals-against-average. But since the start of 2012, Thomas is 9-6-0 with a .913 save-percentage and has allowed 41 goals over that stretch.

The good news? He'll be countered by a man that's started just seven games this year. Auld comes into play with an .883 save-percentage this season, and has a 1-3-1 record against Eastern Conference opponents this season.

Game-Changers


All eyes should be on Boston's Chris Kelly. The former Senator, acquired by Boston last Feb., has two goals and an assist in six career games against his former club, and will be centering Boston's first line once again. While Kelly has just one goal in his last 15 games, the Bruins are 13-0-0 this year when Machine-Gun Kelly scores.

Ottawa defensemen Erik Karlsson may just have two points in 14 career games against Boston, but there's simply no defensemen on a bigger tear right now than the Swedish-born blue-liner. The 21-year-old Karlsson has not only been producing a near point-per-game pace this year, but has tallied an otherworldly 13 points in his last five games with a plus-8 rating. Superhuman, folks, absolutely superhuman.

Stats of Note


- Brad Marchand has four goals and seven points in ten career games against the Sens.

- B's defensemen Joe Corvo has just four points in 17 games against Northeast foes this season.

- In 16 games, Boston forward David Krejci's scored four goals and 15 points on Saturday.

- Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson has scored 24 goals in 78 career games against the Bruins.

- Stay at home d-man Chris Phillips has scored two goals in the past two games.

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