As the Ottawa Senators enjoy a three-game winning streak, they’re about to begin an important three-game stretch against some key Atlantic Division rivals.

Their holiday voyage through the Atlantic schedule starts Sunday night in Boston against the Bruins. They’ll then face the surging Buffalo Sabres at the CTC on Tuesday night, before wrapping things up right after the break with a Saturday night matchup in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.

Advertisement

The Senators have won four of their last five games, but the room for error in the tight division and conference remains virtually non-existent. Ottawa enters play three points back of both the Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are currently tied at 41 points. Tampa Bay holds third place in the division thanks to a better points percentage (.586).

In an interesting quirk of the schedule, Sunday’s game will wrap up Ottawa’s four-game season series with Boston. The Senators won the opener, 7-2, in October. On November 6, the Bruins got revenge with a 3-2 overtime victory, before Ottawa took the third meeting, 5-3, a week later.

After winning four straight games, the Bruins have cooled off a bit, losing three of their last four, including a shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. The Senators are also on a back-to-back after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks, 6-4, on Saturday afternoon.

A win on Sunday night would give Ottawa its first four-game winning streak of the season.

Advertisement

The Senators are expected to make one lineup change. Tyler Kleven was injured in Saturday’s game against Chicago and has already been ruled out for Sunday. So Nikolas Matinpalo is the likely choice to re-enter the fray on his wrong side on the third pairing, as he did for most of the time Thomas Chabot was out.

Chabot was excellent in his return on Saturday, posting an assist and logging heavy minutes due to Kleven’s exit.

For Boston, David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie have been leading the charge. Geekie leads Boston with 25 goals and 39 points, while Pastrnak sits one point back with 38. There’s a significant drop-off after that, though the Bruins still boast plenty of firepower.

With both teams playing Saturday, neither squad held a morning skate. After Leevi Merilainen started against Chicago, the Senators are expected to turn back to Linus Ullmark. Jeremy Swayman played on Saturday for Boston, so it’s likely Joonas Korpisalo will get the call for the Bruins in a battle of two goalies starting against their former clubs.

Advertisement

Senators projected lineup (subject to change)

Brady Tkachuk-Tim Stützle-Fabian Zetterlund
David Perron-Dylan Cozens-Drake Batherson
Michael Amadio-Ridly Greig-Claude Giroux
Kurtis MacDermid-Stephen Halliday-Nick Cousins

Jake Sanderson-Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot-Nick Jensen
Nikolas Matinpalo-Jordan Spence

Linus Ullmark
Leevi Merilainen

Bruins projected lineup (NHL.com)

Marat Khusnutdinov-Elias Lindholm-David Pastrnak
Casey Mittelstadt-Pavel Zacha-Morgan Geekie
Tanner Jeannot-Fraser Minten-Mark Kastelic
Jeffrey Viel-Sean Kuraly-Michael Eyssimont

Nikita Zadorov-Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm-Andrew Peeke
Mason Lohrei-Victor Söderström

Joonas Korpisalo
Jeremy Swayman

By Steve Warne
Site Editor, The Hockey News Ottawa