MacArthur lifts Senators in overtime

Capitals also reach next round with an OT win

BOSTON — Clarke MacArthur spent almost two full seasons recovering from a concussion, wondering if he would ever be able to return to the Senators.

“There’s nothing like living in the NHL and living in these playoffs,” he said after scoring a power-play goal 6:30 into overtime to help Ottawa beat Boston 3-2 in Game 6 on Sunday and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“It (retirement) is something everyone’s going to have to deal with one day,” said the 32-year-old forward, who was injured in the fourth game of last season and didn’t come back until four games left in this one. “But I want to stretch it out as long as I can.”

Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris scored five minutes apart in the second to give the Senators a 2-1 lead, and Craig Anderson stopped 28 shots for Ottawa. The Senators, who hadn’t won a postseason series for since 2013, will play the Rangers in the second round.

Tuukka Rask made 26 saves for the Bruins, who got goals from Drew Stafford and Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins did not get off a shot in the extra period — the fourth overtime game of the series and the 17th of the NHL playoffs, tying the record for an opening round.

“We came in here, took a deep breath (and) realized that, ‘Hey, tie game. Next shot wins. Let’s get back to business,’” Anderson said. “That’s all we did.”

MacArthur sustained a concussion on Oct. 14, 2015 — Game 4 of last season — and hadn’t played since, missing 156 games before he finally passed a baseline test in the last weeks of this season and was cleared to return. He played in only four games this year, without recording a point.

“You’ve been off for a couple of years and you’re thinking, ‘Yeah, I should make this play’ or ‘I should be able to do that,’” he said. “I’ve just been trying to stick with it and be patient, and you know it’s slowly coming.” CAPITALS 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1 (OT): In Toronto, Marcus Johansson stuffed his second goal of the game past Frederik Andersen at 6:31 of overtime, lifting Washington to a serieswinning victory.

Johansson pulled Washington even at 1-1 with less than eight minutes to go in the third period after Auston Matthews broke a scoreless tie with his fourth goal of the series for Toronto. It was the fifth overtime game of the series, and the record-setting 18th in the first round of the playoffs.

Holtby made 37 saves for the Capitals, who will face the Penguins in the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second straight year.

Andersen was sharp with 34 saves.