Need to Know: Bruins at Senators

BOSTON – It may only be mid-January, but there just might be a playoff-type atmosphere on Saturday afternoon in Ottawa.

The Bruins (22-19-5, 49 points) and Senators (22-18-4, 48 points) will enter their matinee matchup separate by just one point in the standings with Boston currently holding on to the East’s second wild card spot. Columbus (22-17-6) holds the first spot with 50 points, while Montreal (22-18-4) sits just one point behind both Boston and Ottawa.

“There’s a logjam right now,” interim head coach Joe Sacco said following Friday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena. “For us, it’s about the last couple games that we’ve played against division opponents, another one coming up [Saturday] against a very good hockey team again that’s playing better.

“For us, it’s zeroing in on the games that are in front of us and making sure that we’re just trying to stick to our game, stick to our process and hopefully the end result will take care of itself.”

While the Black & Gold have now won two straight to break a six-game losing skid, they know there is still plenty of room for growth in their game as they aim to build on their victories over Atlantic Division foes Florida and Tampa.

“They’re big points for both teams,” said captain Brad Marchand. “It’s a great opportunity to continue to build our game. We’ve had a couple big wins lately. Definitely areas of our game we can continue to improve upon. But another good opportunity to do that [Saturday].

“[It’s] one we’re looking forward to. Nice to have a few days to recover and get excited about the game.”

Marchand added that he believes that playoff-type environment will be beneficial for the Bruins as they look to shore up their play over the second half of the season.

“We watch standings all year,” said Marchand. “You try not to get too caught up in it because things change on the daily. We’re aware of it. It’s definitely not too early for the playoff picture. You have to, as quick as you can, find a way to compete at the highest level and play that playoff-type game.

“That’s the way they tried to build us this year and we have to do a little better job of doing that on a consistent basis. When we do it, we’re a hard team to play and we showed that. We just get away from it sometimes, so we have to find that consistency.”