Big decision on Spooner works out
OTTAWA — With the season on the line last night, Bruins interim coach Bruce Cassidy made a fairly notable lineup change.
Cassidy chose to sit Ryan Spooner, the enigmatic third-line center who had seen his minutes shrink to below 10 in Game 4, and play rookie Sean Kuraly between Frank Vatrano and Tim Schaller, giving the B’s a line that could bang but still have a touch of skill.
And the switch paid off in a big way. Kuraly scored the tying goal late in the second period and the gamewinner in double overtime as the Bruins stayed alive in the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series with a 3-2 win.
Cassidy said Spooner “wasn’t 100 percent” but did not say what was bothering him. Spooner participated in the morning skate and Cassidy said he was available if needed, conceding the switch to the more physical player was more about what Kuraly could bring.
It looked like Spooner, scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in July, may have played his last game for the Bruins — but not so fast. The B’s lost center David Krejci to a leg injury in the first period last night, and though Cassidy gave the standard playoff prognosis of “day-to-day” for Krejci, it certainly did not look like he would be back any time soon as he hobbled down the tunnel, not to be seen again.
Spooner has a pair of assists in the series and, if there was any place in particular where the Bruins would miss him, it was on the power play. But he has not been a factor in 5-on-5 play. In Game 4, Spooner played just 9:34 but was on the ice in the third period when Ottawa scored the lone goal at the Garden.
When Claude Julien was fired and Cassidy took over in February, Spooner enjoyed a big spike in his play, notching points in 5-of-6 games. But his play tailed off and, after missing three games with a concussion March 8-13, he hasn’t had much of an impact unless it’s been on the man advantage.
Krug on skates
Defenseman Torey Krug, out of the lineup since suffering a lower body injury in the second-to-last game of the regular season, traveled with the team and skated ahead of Game 5. . . .
Vatrano had been seen wearing a walking cast after Game 4 at the Garden but said he was fine for Game 5. He played 15:03 and was a plus-1. . . .
Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson led all players with 41:51 of ice time while 40-year-old blueliner Zdeno Chara was the leader for the Bruins at 36:46. Chara led all players with nine hits.
Kelly in for Ottawa
With Tom Pyatt out with an upper-body injury, former Bruins forward Chris Kelly made his series debut for the Senators. Kelly had played all 82 regular-season games before coach Guy Boucher scratched him for Game 1.
“He’s a guy I hated to take out,” Boucher said. “He’s a terrific person. He’s a professional. He’s helped us all year and been outstanding in our room. That was probably the toughest thing I had to do this year, was to sit him out. It was not because he wasn’t doing a good job, it was that the other guys who were available were ahead of him. For the first time in the year, we had a full team. It was no fun to do that, so to have him back is exciting for me.”
The Senators had done a good job over the first four games of neutralizing one of the B’s greatest strengths: faceoffs. Every Ottawa center arrived at Game 5 having won at least 50 percent of the time in the dot.
“It’s been a community effort,” Kelly said. “Faceoffs are oftentimes the result of five guys working together. Specially in the postseason, the faceoffs are rarely snapped back. I think it’s been a great job not just by the centermen but the wingers and the defense to get in there and get those pucks.”
Kelly played just 7:10.