Bruins mount comeback, but Senators close it out
Bobby Ryan played the role of hero Monday night as the Ottawa Senators were able to overcome a meltdown in Beantown.
The Senators blew a three-goal lead in the second period and managed to skate away with a 4-3 overtime win to take a 2-1 first-round series lead over the Boston Bruins. The Sens got up off the mat after Ryan scored the winner at 5:43 of OT on the power play to deliver the knockout punch.
“It feels great,” Ryan said. “I knew if I stuck with it, I’d get a chance eventually. It feels incredible.”
Though the Senators pushed the pace and dominated a lot of play, goaltender Craig Anderson struggled as David Pastrnak, David Backes and Noel Acciari tied it up in the second period. Two goals by Mike Hoffman and Derick Brassard’s second of the playoffs on Tuukka Rask had given the Senators a 3-0 lead.
“We didn’t play the full 60 minutes again,” Senators captain Erik Karlsson said. “They did a great job. They were down three goals, they had nothing to lose and they went for it and scored two quick goals. After that, it tightened up. We were a bit on our heels, but we found a way to not give them too much.
“It’s a huge goal for us from Bobby. It’s the playoffs — no one’s going to give up, and it’s not going to be pretty at all times, but you want to win games and we found a way to win.”
Despite outshooting the Bruins 18-10 through 40 minutes, the teams were tied 3-3 going into the third. Though it wasn’t all Anderson’s fault, he has to make a stop or two to give the Senators a chance — especially at this time of year.
After pulling out to the 3-0 lead early in the second, the Bruins came charging back to erase the deficit and Pastrnak tied it up on the power play with 6:09 left in the second on a shot that beat Anderson stick-side. That goal came at the end of a short five-on-three after the Senators took back-toback penalties.
“That’s the way it goes in the playoffs. The tide changes — there’s a lot resiliency in the playoffs,” Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher said. “When it’s 3-3 after the second period, it’s a great opportunity for everybody. It was very calm for everybody between the second and third.”
Not long after Hoffman gave the Senators what should have been a comfortable lead with 16:18 left in the second on the power play, the Bruins cued the comeback with two goals in a span of 42 seconds. Backes, in alone, pulled Boston to within a goal by beating Anderson at 6:47 to cut Ottawa’s lead to 3-2.
It was Acciari who got the Bruins on the board at 6:05. He was able to tip a shot by John-Michael Liles by Anderson to at least get the crowd back into the game.
“It was tough. You’ve got to stay positive as much as you can,” Hoffman said. “Before the third period, we just said we’ve got to stay positive as much as we can. If you told us it was going to be a tie game going into the third, we would have taken that any day of the week if you told us that going into the game.”
The Senators struck quickly with two goals in a span of 35 seconds in the first. Brassard scored his second of the post-season by beating Rask on the glove side at 7:40.
Hoffman’s first goal will make every highlight reel in Canada. A perfect saucer pass by Karlsson from his own end sent Hoffman in alone, and he made a perfect backhand reach across to beat Rask on the glove side at 7:15 to open the scoring for the Senators.
“Luckily, he was there,” Karlsson said with a smile. “It was a little bit of fluke play and he made a good read and he saw I had time and I pull something out of my back pocket, and it worked out.” Did he expect the end result? “The one-hander, I didn’t. It was nice to see a big move from him,” Karlsson said.
The Senators will face the Bruins in Game 4 on Wednesday in Boston before heading home to the Canadian Tire Centre for Game 5 on Friday.