Post-game Recap: Bruins vs Senators

The Ottawa Senators hosted the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins in front of a sold out Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night.

Following a physical and defensive battle Ottawa was able to get a point out of the Bruins with a late goal, but couldn't find the back of the Bruins net in overtime.

Ottawa attemped to apply pressure to start the game with Bruins playing their second game in two nights. Following an initial push by the Sens an early tilt between Ottawa's Mark Kastelic and Boston's Derek Forbort settled the game down substantially.

As the period was in it's final minutes, with the Senators were leading in shots 9-2, Jacob Bernard-Docker took a holding penalty and the Bruins scored three seconds into the power play with 1:24 remaining in the first.

The second period opened much like the first with a lot of physical defensive play at both ends of the ice. Ottawa's power play began to make in-roads by the mid-point of the period and generated several scoring chances. However, strong goaltending by Jeremy Swayman kept the Senators off the scoresheet.

Following Ottawa's third power play Thomas Chabot raced down the left wing firing a shot behind Swayman that somehow stayed out of the Bruins net. The play came back the other way and Trent Frederic snuck a seeing eye shot past Joonas Korpisalo to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.

The Senators got one final man-advantage opportunity with just under two minutes remaining in the period. Ottawa maintained the momentum from their previous power plays keeping the pressure on the Bruins. Finally, Chychrun walked the puck along the line finding Stützle on the wall. Stützle moved the puck into the corner where Batherson slipped a no-look pass into the slot finding Chabot for his second goal of the year. A scrum ensued, with Tim Stützle, Drake Batherson, Parker Wotherspoon, and Charlie McAvoy picking up offsetting two minute minors.

The third period started heavily in the Senators end. However, Korpisalo and the Senators defense weathered the storm. From that point in the game onward Ottawa kept increasing zone-time and pressure in the Boston end. Just after the mid-point of the game it appeared Ottawa's hard work had paid off when Josh Norris won a tough battle in front of the net and snuck the puck past Swayman. The referees on the ice called out the fact that Mathieu Joseph had made contact with the puck using his glove and waved the goal off. Less than two minutes later Parker Kelly drew a sixth Bruins penalty.

The Senators final power play of the night led to three quality chances before Vladimir Tarasenko sniped a shot from the left hashmarks to tie the game with 3:18 left to play!

In overtime the Senators started Josh Norris, Vladimir Tarasenko and Thomas Chabot. The group withstood the inital Bruins surge with Korpisalo making two big saves. When Ottawa was able to get the puck back and make a line change that set forth with Tim Stützle, Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson. The Senators gained the zone and stabalized enough for a set play with Stützle breaking to the net and getting a shot off. The rebound jumped over Tkachuk's stick and the Bruins ended the game on the counter attack with a goal from Brad Marchand.

Three Thoughts

1. Thomas Chabot had a season high seven shots on goal to go with his goal assist.
2. Claude Giroux led Ottawa forwards in ice-time with 22:36 against the division rivals from Boston.
3. Ten players had double-digit hits in this physical affair including Pinto, Jospeh, Kastelic and Chychrun who all recorded a team-high three hits.

Photo of the Game