The Boston Bruins continue to have the Ottawa Senators’ number.
Eleven, to be exact.
Dennis Seidenberg’s goal with only 1:04 remaining gave the Bruins a 2-1 win over the Senators Tuesday, extending Boston’s winning streak at Scotiabank Place to 11 games, dating all the way back to April 7, 2009.
It marked only the second time this season the Senators had lost on home ice in regulation and ended the Senators’ three-game winning streak.
The teams appeared headed for overtime until Seidenberg’s goal, a point shot from the blue line which cleared a group of bodies in front of Senators goaltender Robin Lehner.
The Senators came into the game on a roll, fresh from their 5-3 come-from-behind win over the New York Islanders Tuesday and with a 4-0-2 record in their previous six games. The injury-depleted Senators were also down another body, with defenceman Marc Methot sitting out due to the sprained right knee injury he suffered Tuesday. Mike Lundin, back from his concussion, took Methot’s spot in the lineup.
The Bruins, meanwhile, had scored a combined two goals in their previous two games, both losses, including a 3-1 defeat to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Looking for a spark, Bruins coach Claude Julien shook things up in the Boston net, opting to start Anton Khudobin rather than number one goaltender Tuukka Rask.
Senators coach Paul MacLean countered with Robin Lehner, who came in with an impressive history against the Bruins. In his two previous meetings against the Bruins this season, Lehner was on the wrong end of a 2-1 overtime loss and a 3-2 shootout loss, stopping 78 of 81 shots. Including his shutout of the Bruins last season, Lehner had saved 109 of the 112 shots he had seen from the Bruins in his previous three games.
With time running down in the second period, the Senators had the Bruins right where they wanted them – leading 1-0 – until Daniel Paille beat Lehner on a two-on-one break.
Paille’s shot, from the faceoff circle to Lehner’s left, fired a wrist shot which deflected off the goaltender’s glove and trickled into the net.
The goal gave life to the Bruins, who had appeared disorganized and without a lot of energy through much of the game to that point.
After a scoreless opening period, the Senators took the lead when Kaspars Daugavins beat Khudobin from the faceoff circle to his right. The goal held up following a video review, which showed that Mika Zibanejad didn’t deflect the shot with a high stick while creating a screen in front of the Bruins goaltender.
It was the quite the change for Daugavins from the storyline against the Bruins nine days earlier, when he made headlines everywhere for the shot which didn’t end up in the net — the Riga Wraparound shootout attempt, where he carried the puck on the toe of his stick and spun around in front of the Bruins net, before being stopped by Tuukka Rask.
Thursday’s goal was Daugavins’ first of the season and first since last March 26.

GAME FILE

CHEERS

Dennis Seidenberg, Bruins

Just as the 19,603 fans at Scotiabank Place were preparing themselves for yet another overtime, the Bruins defenceman found the range with a perfectly placed shot.

JEERS

The officials

They decided to put the whistles away in this one. There were only two power plays, both from the Bruins. The Senators didn’t receive a power play chance.

Tags: Boston Bruins, feature, Ottawa Senators