Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

Boston Bruins (4-4-1) at Ottawa Senators (5-2-1), 7 p.m.

The Boston Bruins will try to continue their recent dominance of the Ottawa Senators when the Northeast Division rivals meet tonight at Scotiabank Place.

The Bruins won five of six in the season series last year and have taken nine of their last 11 meetings with Ottawa. However, the teams have split the last 10 encounters in Canada's capital city.

Boston has been on a roller coaster since the season began, alternating losses and wins since dropping its opener. The Bruins posted a win over visiting Nashville on Wednesday, but were then handed a shootout loss the following night in Philadelphia. Claude Giroux notched the lone goal of the shootout to lift the Flyers to a 4-3 win at Wachovia Center.

After four scoreless shooters, Giroux opened the third round by making several stick fakes on the forehand before slipping a shot inside the right post. On Boston's turn to keep the game alive, Michael Ryder drilled a shot through to the left post, but it caught iron and bounced out to end the contest.

Derek Morris, Matt Hunwick and Steve Begin scored for the Bruins, who have lost two of three. Tuukka Rask was strong in defeat, making 36 stops.

"We're happy, we're playing hard," said Morris. "At the beginning of the year we were kind of in-and-out. One period we were good, one shift we were good, the next shift we were bad. We're getting a consistent game back, which is good come down the long run."

The Bruins have been battling injuries lately. The most significant ones will keep top forwards Marc Savard (broken foot) and Milan Lucic (broken finger) out for the next four-to-six weeks. Winger Shawn Thornton is also questionable for tonight's test with an undisclosed injury.

Boston, which is 1-1-1 as the guest this year, is playing the second of two straight on the road tonight.

Ottawa lost for just the third time in eight games this season after dropping an overtime decision Thursday against Nashville. Shea Weber scored twice, including the game-winning power-play score 2:11 into overtime, as the Predators earned a wild 6-5 win over the Sens at Scotiabank Place.

Chris Campoli, Milan Michalek, Nick Foligno, Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips scored for the Senators.

Jason Spezza added three assists and Pascal Leclaire made 31 saves in defeat for Ottawa, which rallied from deficits of 3-0, 4-3 and 5-4 to send the game to overtime after tallying five goals in the third period.

"We were resilient. We came back and got a point out of it," said Spezza, who has recorded six assists during a four-game point streak.

Spezza missed practice on Friday with an undisclosed injury, but is expected to play tonight. However, Leclaire (flu) and Michalek (upper body) are doubtful for this evening's contest, as both missed practice on Friday.

Ottawa is 3-1-1 as the host so far this year and is capping a brief two-game homestand tonight.