Music: {allcanada} Senators-Bruins Preview 4/2/13

Monday, April 1, 2013

{allcanada} Senators-Bruins Preview 4/2/13

With the abbreviated season winding down, the Ottawa Senators are still in the mix for the Northeast Division title. Yet another loss to the Boston Bruins, however, might change that.

Having been shut out in its last outing, Ottawa opens a critical seven-game road trip looking to snap a four-game losing streak to the division rival Bruins on Tuesday night in Boston.

The Senators (19-10-6) faced Toronto on Saturday looking for their fourth straight win and seventh in eight games, but fell 4-0 in a costly defeat to another division foe that's now tied with Ottawa in third place.

''We thought it was going to be a lot closer,'' forward Zack Smith said. ''We're used to playing tight games."

Coming off a shutout of the New York Rangers in their previous game, the Senators generated 31 shots on goal - 26 in the final two periods - but couldn't break through.

"We are a young team and we keep learning. ... When you're young guys sometimes you try to do too much, so we have to make sure we keep focusing on the good things," forward Guillaume Latendresse said.

"When we win, we say we have to go on to the next game. When you lose, you have to do the same thing. ... We're playing against Boston (next), and that's what we have to do now."

The Senators fell four points behind the second-place Bruins, who are right on the heels of Montreal. Though within striking distance of Boston, Ottawa has played one more game and has continued to have little success head-to-head this season.

The Senators have dropped three one-goal games to the Bruins in 2013, giving them 12 losses in the past 13 matchups. The only victory in that stretch came by a 1-0 score at Boston on Feb. 28, 2012.

The Bruins took the most recent meeting 2-1 on March 21 behind Anton Khudobin's 27 saves.

Khudobin isn't likely to be in net this time, as he gave Tuukka Rask a rest in a 2-0 victory over Buffalo on Sunday. Khudobin stopped 26 shots while David Krejci and Nathan Horton each had a goal and assist in the final 7:06 for Boston (22-8-4), which avoided a third straight loss with their third win in eight contests.

Rask and Khudobin have a combined goals-against average of 2.11 - among the league leaders but behind the Senators' 2.01.

"We're just worrying about our game and they're stopping the pucks for us," Krejci told the team's official website. "It was a good start tonight, we'll see if it was the start of something good."

Horton has scored one goal in three straight games.

Boston is 11-2-2 at home and has gone 5-0-1 in its last six there. However, it will be facing an Ottawa club that's 3-0-1 in its past four on the road.

Rask has won all four career starts versus Ottawa with a 1.21 GAA.

Ottawa's Robin Lehner has been in net for all three games versus the Bruins this year, posting a 1.91 GAA, but Ben Bishop might get his fourth consecutive start Tuesday.