The Boston Bruins’ seven-game winning streak started after a 7-2 loss in Ottawa on October 27th and that's where it went to die as well. The Senators once again blew an early 2-0 lead, but this time, thanks to a pair of late goals from Tim Stützle, they recovered to defeat the Bruins 5-3 at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night.
With the victory, the Senators improved their record to 9-5-4, good for a three-way tie for top spot in the Atlantic with Boston and Montreal. The Canadiens were clobbered by Dallas on Thursday night 7-0 but still hold the edge by virtue of playing one fewer game than the Senators.
To recap, for all the anxiety and so-called troubling moments in the first month, no one in the Atlantic Division has more points than the Ottawa Senators. Stützle ended the night with two goals and an assist, Leevi Meriläinen made 18 saves for the Senators, and Michael Amadio extended his points streak to six games.
Claude Giroux got the game started with a power play goal less than 2 minutes into the game. The Senators created some space for themselves with some excellent passing just prior to the goal. Finally, Giroux one-timed a cross-ice pass from Stutzle to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.
Dylan Cozens made it 2-0 at the end of the period with another one-timer. Fabian Zetterlund outmuscled his man behind the Boston net and hit Cozens all alone in the high slot area.
Boston pushed back in the second on Morgan Geekie’s 12th goal of the season, which would be the only goal of the second period.
Just over a minute into the third, Shane Pinto scored his ninth goal of the season. On the day of his new four-year extension, Pinto ends his nine-game goalless drought.
After starting the year going scoreless in the team’s first seven games, Amadio has now put up a point in nine of his 11 games since. His assist tonight was a perfect saucer pass to Shane Pinto, who redirected it into the net. It was a fine gift to Pinto for signing his new four-year extension earlier in the day.
The Senators seemed to be in good shape at that point at 3-1, but their lead would last barely four minutes. With the Bruins on the power play, David Pastrnak appeared to cut into the lead with his 11th goal of the year, but it was overturned on an offside challenge. On the same power play, though, Pastrnak got one that counted to cut the lead to 3-2.
Less than 2 minutes later, former Senator Mark Kastelic tied the game, chipping a puck past Meriläinen.
That's when Stützle went to work. His hard wrist shot on a perfect pass from Drake Batherson gave Ottawa a 4-3 lead with under 6 minutes to play, and then Stützle put the contest to bed with an empty-net goal. As with the Pastrnak situation, Stützle had a chance at a do-over: Stützle hit the post on an empty-net try but then scored for real to ice the game.
The Sens limp out of this one with more injury concerns on the blue line. Already without Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson played the second half of the game with a sore hand after blocking a shot. And Nick Jensen, who's barely a month into his comeback from hip resurfacing surgery, hobbled off the ice at the end of the second and did not return.
Head coach Travis Green had no update on Jensen's status. If Jensen and Chabot both can't go on Saturday, this may create an opportunity for top prospect Carter Yakemchuk.
The Senators have now only lost once in regulation in their last 12 games, but their schedule now gets a bit quirky. The Sens have only one game in the next week and it happens on Saturday at home against the Los Angeles Kings. Then the club is off until next Thursday when they begin a long seven-game road trip. Saturday's game against the Kings will be their last home game until December 4th.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News/Ottawa