Senators vs. Bruins: Game 1 prediction

The Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins are battling in the Canadian Tire Centre in Game 1 of their Atlantic Division semifinal on Wednesday night.

After all the smoke cleared on the NHL regular season, we are left with 16 teams vying for Lord Stanley’s Cup. In the Atlantic Division, we saw the Montreal Canadiens take the crown, while the Senators and Bruins finished in second and third place, respectively.

This series could genuinely go either way, despite Ottawa having home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series. The Senators have outstanding goaltending in Craig Anderson, who continues to give the faithful reason to believe. Anderson was brilliant throughout the season, winning 25 games while recording a .926 save percentage and five shutouts.

Offensively, the Senators will rely on their trio of 20-goal scorers in Kyle Turris, Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone. Stone and Hoffman are young, skills forwards who compliment a tough, veteran group. The defensemen are led by Dion Phaneuf and, of course, Erik Karlsson. Karlsson, a Norris Trophy winner, led the team with 71 points.

Boston brings a much more explosive attack to the ice. Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak each scored more than 30 goals on the campaign, with Marchand leading the team at 85 points and 39 goals. The Bruins have issues on the back line, which will be tested by a fast Ottawa team.

On the surface, a main key for the Bruins will be to stay out of the penalty box, something that could test an already thin blue line. In those situations, two-way forward Patrice Bergeron must continue to shine, leading a unit that ranked first in the league at over 85 percent on the kill.

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Look for Boston to come out strong in this series, with Anderson being the equalizer in net. The Senators are better defensively, and that could carry the day against a very aggressive Bruins team.

Pick: Senators 3, Bruins 2