Bruins at Senators
The Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators will get to know each other rather well in a short amount of time. The Atlantic Division rivals will play the first of three games in a 14-day stretch when Boston concludes its three-game road trip in Canada's capital on Sunday.
Patrice Bergeron scored in Saturday's 6-3 loss to Buffalo for his fourth goal and 10th point in 11 contests for the Bruins, who have lost two in a row following a 5-0-1 stretch. Tuukka Rask sat out against the Sabres but has yielded just six goals during a 5-0-1 run heading into a date with Ottawa - versus which he owns a 7-3-2 career record. While Boston has sputtered in its bid to pull itself atop the Atlantic, Ottawa has dropped two in a row and five of seven to remain three points out of first place. Mark Stone scored his team's lone goal in a 2-1 shootout loss to Florida on Tuesday, marking just the Senators' 15th tally in their last seven contests.
TV: 5 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), TSN5, RDS2 (Ottawa)
ABOUT THE BRUINS (19-11-4): David Krejci scored his first goal in nearly one month on Saturday, but the tally accounted for his 10th point in 14 games. The 29-year-old isn't shy about contributing against Ottawa, versus which he set up two goals in his last meeting and has 32 points (10 tallies, 22 assists) in 39 career encounters. Loui Eriksson, who increased his point total to five in as many contests by notching two assists versus Buffalo, has collected 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 11 career meetings with the Senators.
ABOUT THE SENATORS 17-12-6): Bobby Ryan is expected to return from a one-game absence due to a broken index finger. "It's such a fickle spot, once you take a few of the injections and what not, it gets pretty swollen and sore, so we opted for those two extra days to try to get the swelling down a little bit," Ryan told the Ottawa Citizen. Fellow forward Curtis Lazar (lower body) is expected to be a game-time decision while defenseman Cody Ceci likely will miss the contest with the same ailment.
OVERTIME
1. Ottawa G Craig Anderson turned aside 39 shots versus the Panthers but owns an 8-3-3 mark at home this season.
2. The Senators are 2-for-22 on the power play in their last seven games.
3. The teams will meet again in Boston on Tuesday before returning to Ottawa on Jan. 9.