MCKENNA STANDS OUT IN OT LOSS TO BRUINS
Mike McKenna stole the show for the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
He also helped the Senators make their point.
Without McKenna’s brilliant, 42-save performance, the Senators may have never gotten a point in the first place as the club dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Boston Bruins in front of 13,148 at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Torey Krug scored the overtime winner at 3:07 to give the Bruins the victory on a shot McKenna never had a chance on. While McKenna only surrendered a goal to Brad Marchand in regulation, Mark Stone responded for the Senators against Tuukka Rask.
“It was great. We see it in practice all the time and we couldn’t have asked for more from him,” said centre Colin White, who set up Stone for the club’s goal.
Making only his sixth appearance in net since being called up from Belleville, McKenna was strong. He gave the club a chance to win and that’s all the Senators wanted from their backup as No. 1 netminder Craig Anderson got a rare rest.
The shots were 14-4 for Boston in the third period and that’s when McKenna was at his best in his first home start.
“I felt like myself and I felt like I did a lot of good work leading up to this to be ready for it,” said McKenna, who made a two-pad stack on Sean Kuraly in OT. “That’s a credit to our goalie coach (Pierre Groulx) and my teammates.
“It might have been the most (saves) in the NHL but I’ve had games like that in other places too. I’ve felt that before. We battled so hard. It was a little bit of a battle of attrition, with both teams being banged up, but it was a pretty entertaining game, I thought.”
With the Senators coming off a 2-1 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, both teams were in backto-back situations. The Bruins didn’t arrive until early Sunday morning after beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 in Boston.
The challenge was difficult for the Senators. The club is playing without six regulars because of injuries and coach Guy Boucher warned that Boston has dominated Ottawa the last 18 months.
Boucher was happy the Senators walked away with three of four points in the two games.
“I thought our players in general, if you look at the whole weekend, and put it in perspective, not a lot of people thought we’d get a single point this weekend with big teams coming in,” Boucher said.
“Giving up only one goal in regulation in each game? I’m really proud of our guys. They gave everything they had. They’re done now. There’s nothing left in the tank. It was a great team effort in both games, and it was a really close one.”
Through 40 minutes this was a tough battle, with the shots 27-23 in favour of Boston and the score tied 1-1. McKenna was equal to the task and did a good job, while Rask came up with some stops as the Senators pushed hard to make sure this game was even.
The Senators were forced to play most of the second period with only five defencemen after Ben Harpur was given 17 minutes in penalties for dropping the gloves with Boston’s Sean Kuraly.
The Bruins tied it up on the power play when Marchand fired home his eighth of the season at 7:49 of the second. Standing in the circle, he beat McKenna on the glove side, and that was the first goal with the man advantage the club had allowed in four games.
The Senators held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Outshot 12-11 by the Bruins, the Senators didn’t give up a lot of great scoring chances. The first period ended with a five-on-three power play for Ottawa, but the club couldn’t complete it in the second.
Stone opened the scoring by taking a perfect feed from White, beating Rask on the stick side at 12:51 of the first. White showed a burst of speed to help set up the odd-man rush with the Bruins caught up ice, and Stone easily scored his 15th of the season.
“We’re still making strides to get where we want to be defensively,” said forward Zack Smith. “We have to figure that out pretty quick here, but it’s nice to have McKenna come in here and he stood on his head for a lot of the saves so it’s good to know that when we make mistakes they have your back.”
A TOUGH STRETCH
The Senators’ depth is being put to the test.
While blue-liner Christian Jaros is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, the club was also without veteran defenceman Dylan DeMelo, who may not make the three-game road trip that begins Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators.
DeMelo is out with an upperbody injury and it may have taken place in the first period on a hit from Pittsburgh’s Riley Sheahan. DeMelo finished the game, but the club was forced to recall Erik Burgdoerfer Sunday morning and he suited up against the Bruins.
The Senators will recall a forward and a blue-liner from the club’s AHL affiliate in Belleville before they leave.
Losing DeMelo is a big hit. Acquired in the deal that sent Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks in September, DeMelo has been a strong addition. He’s been a solid defensive partner for Thomas Chabot and averages 18:53 per game.