The Bruins are back at work tonight at the Garden against the Senators, following yesterday's 2-1 shootout edging by the Devils on Causeway Street.

Claude Julien's hard-working charges again have struggled to put pucks in the net. In four of their last six games, they've scored only one goal in regulation play. The paucity of overall goal scoring can be traced, in part, to a feeble power play that was shutout again (0-for-3) against the Devils.

As of this morning, the Bruins' man-advantage ranks 27th in the league with a 14.0 percent success rate. In 25 games thus far in 2009-10, the Bruins have failed to score a power-play goal in all but seven of those games. Boston's record in the 18 games in which it didn't score a PPG: 7-7-4. They are 5-1-1 in the seven games that they have scored on the man-advantage.

Savard gaining strength
Marc Savard, who returned to the lineup Monday night after missing five weeks with a foot fracture, should help get the power play in flight once he has back running at full strength. The slick pivot said Friday, following the loss to New Jersey, that he feels he is ''still sucking a bit of wind, to be honest, but I've been keeping my shifts short.''

Expected soon to sign a lengthy contract extension, for an average of around $5 million a year, the 32-year-old Savard has contributed two assists in his three games back from the disabled list.

With Milan Lucic expected to be sidelined roughly a month after spraining his ankle Wednesday night in St. Paul, the Burins have lost one of their top offensive performers, which also keeps the power play from getting on track.

''We just have to keep battling through,'' noted Savard. ''He's a big part of this team, and obviously, with [GM] Peter Chiarelli signing him, he's going to be a big part for years. So we just have to keep our heads up. We've gone through these stretches, like with [Patrice] Bergeron and different guys like [David] Krejci going down. This is another thing where guys have to step up--and we have guys here to do that.''

Bergeron draws attention
Patrice Bergeron won 11 more faceoffs (of a total 16) on Friday, keeping him on the heels of Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby for the league lead in wins at the dot. Sid the Kid has won 316 to Bergeron's 287.

Bergeron has won 57.9 percent of his drops this season, which ranks him fifth overall among players who have taken at least 300 faceoffs.

The hitting is missing
Boston's hitting game has lost its spiritual leader with Lucic sidelined. Looch landed 262 slams last season, tying him for fifth overall with Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke.

Thus far in 2009-'10, Steve Begin leads the hit brigade for Boston, his 51 hits slotting him in a tie for 54th overall in the league. Vladimir Sobotka, who piled on five hits Friday, is next with 49, putting him at 62nd overall in the league.

Team captain Zdeno Chara's hitting game is off this season. Last year, he landed 169 hits, which put him in a tie for 38th league wide. As of this morning, Big Z had but 44 hits, ranking him 73rd league-wide.

Thomas may get start
Tim Thomas was the first Boston goalie to leave the morning workout, likely an indication that Tank will get the call tonight against the Senators.

Sidelined with an injury (undisclosed) since the 6-5 OT loss in Pittsburgh Nov. 14, Thomas yielded the net to rookie Tuukka Rask, who made his sixth straight start Friday afternoon.

Thomas exited the lineup with a 5-6-3 record and a 2.33 goals-against mark.