Sat Mar 29 11:14:17 2008

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Bruins, Sens meet in Beantown for key playoff battle

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(Sports Network) - While the Senators are close to locking up a postseason spot, the Bruins continue to battle for their playoff lives. Those two division rivals will clash this afternoon, as Ottawa, the defending Eastern Conference champions, visits Boston and TD Banknorth Garden.

With 92 points and four games remaining, the Senators can clinch a playoff spot for the 11th straight season with at least a point today and a regulation loss by Washington tonight at Florida.

The Senators are in fifth place in the East and are six back of Montreal for first place in the Northeast Division. Both clubs have four games left in the regular season and meet on Tuesday.

The Senators have lost three of their last four, but did manage to get three points in a home-and-home set with the Sabres. Ottawa posted a victory in Buffalo on Tuesday, but then fell at home in a shootout, 4-3, on Thursday.

Mike Fisher scored twice to give him a career-high 23 goals on the season. He had netted 22 markers in each of the last two seasons. Martin Gerber made 37 saves in the loss.

Jason Spezza also scored to give him six goals and six assists during a nine- game point streak, the longest active run in the league. Spezza leads Ottawa with a career-high 56 assists and 89 points. His 33 goals are one shy of his career high set last year, while he needs just one more point to match the career-best 90 he posted in 2005-06.

Ottawa did loss Cory Stillman to a leg injury in the first period on Thursday. Stillman, who has three goals and 15 assists in 22 games with the Sens this year, is day-to-day but doubtful for today.

The Senators are 20-15-4 on the road this year and have one game left this season as the visiting club.

Boston is currently holding on to the eighth and final postseason spot in the East and is one point behind Philadelphia. The Bruins also own a two-point edge over Washington, and have a game in hand over the Capitals.

On Thursday at home, Phil Kessel and Peter Schaefer each had a goal and an assist as the Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, eliminating their long-time opponents from the NHL playoff race.

Marco Sturm and Glen Murray also scored and Tim Thomas ended with 30 saves for Boston, which swept the home-and-home series and has won two straight on the heels of a three-game skid.

The Bruins did so shorthanded, as leading scorer Marc Savard missed his second straight game due to a broken bone in his lower back. Savard has 78 points on the year and is tied for second in the NHL with 63 assists.

Andrew Ference also missed the contest due to a knee injury, while Chuck Kobasew will miss 4-8 weeks due to a fractured left leg he sustained on Tuesday in Toronto.

Boston plays the second of back-to-back home games today and is 20-15-4 as the host this year. The Bruins begin a three-game road trip on Sunday before wrapping the season at home on April 5.

Ottawa holds a 4-2-0 edge over Boston this year, and the two clubs will wrap their season series on April 4 in Ottawa. The Senators have won eight of their last 11 against the Bruins and four of their last five trips to Beantown.