In their two victories since the trade deadline, the Bruins punched up in weight class against the Tampa Bay Lighting and Florida Panthers, two teams that do not have to worry about a playoff berth.
On Thursday night in Ottawa, the B’s take on a young and upcoming Senators team that has been fighting for their post-season lives for months. A four-game win streak has earned them a wee bit of separation from the number of teams scratching and clawing to get back inside the bracket. But by no means can the young Sens, who have missed the playoffs the last seven years, feel safe.
Ottawa owns the first wild card and are five points ahead of the Bruins, who trail the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card by two points, though the Canadiens, Rangers and Red Wings are between the B’s and the Jackets. At the deadline, the Sens made a big “hockey trade” with the Sabres, dealing Josh Norris for Dylan Cozens and the former Sabre has looked good since his release from NHL Siberia, notching the game-winner in Monday’s win over the Wings.
“They definitely feel good about their game right now and they have a lot of speed. The biggest thing is that they’re hungry right now and we have to manage that to the best of our ability because we’re both fighting for a playoff spot with each other, so it’s a huge game, to say the least” former Senators Mark Kastelic told reporters in Ottawa.
With just 16 games left and everyone else who is chasing a playoff spot possessing at least a game in hand on the B’s, the fight for a berth remains difficult. But the B’s are coming off their most emotional, dramatic win of the season over the Panthers and, while they’re not loaded with goal scoring talent beyond David Pastrnak, they do have some gumption left in the tank. While the B’s did get some draft picks at the trade deadline, they also got some players who are in the lineup now – Casey Mittelstadt, Henri Jokiharju, Jakub Lauko and Marat Khusnutdinov – who have added to the overall team speed.
“I think we all have the same mentality that no matter what moves they made the goal remains the same. We’re not going to give up. We made some moves and brought in a lot of good people and I think we’re still a great hockey team. I think everyone’s just hungry to continue to push the make the playoffs. That’s been our mindset all along,” said Kastelic.
The B’s will go with the same lineup as the last two games and Jeremy Swayman will face his old buddy Linus Ullmark, who is coming off a stupendous 48-save win over Detroit on Monday. Puck drop will be just after 7:30 pm.