Sens beat the team they want to become

Every five years or so, when the moon is blue and the stars align, the Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins on home ice.

Friday night was one of those magical nights as the Senators fought back after trailing 2-0 to beat the Bruins 4-2.

Anyone remember the last time the Senators won at home against their division rivals from Boston?

Here’s a hint: Alex Auld was the winning goaltender and Christoph Schubert scored one of the three Ottawa goals.

It was way, way back on April 7, 2009, that the Senators beat the Bruins 3-2.

Along with Schubert, Mike Fisher and Dany Heatley scored for the home team and Manny Fernandez took the loss in the Bruins net.

Marc Savard was the Bruins best player.

Between that April date and last night, Ottawa had lost 11 straight to Boston in Kanata, two of them in extra time. In Boston, the Senators have actually fared a little better, winning at least once every year except 2008-9 when Ottawa was 0-3-0.

This one started badly (what else is new?), with the Bruins scoring a pair of goals before the opening period was half over.

On the first one, Senators forward Derek Grant dove to block a point shot, but the puck deflected off the shaft of his stick to get behind goaltender Craig Anderson, who had no chance.

Less than four minutes later, at 9:50, Brad Marchand roofed a wrist shot to give a large home crowd the uneasy sense that the Philadelphia Flyers rout of Thursday night was about to be re-enacted.

It might have been, too, if winger Chris Neil hadn’t found the net with just 50 seconds remaining in the first period, sparking his team to some life, despite being outshot 13-6 over the first 20 minutes.

The Neil goal might have been ordered up by the hockey gods, to punish Marchand for idly standing at the Senators bench, chirping, while Neil loaded up his sling shot.

This set up a more even, but scoreless, second period, before the events of the decisive third, which opened with a gorgeous goal by Jason Spezza on a pass from Erik Karlsson.

A few minutes later, a Jared Cowen goal slipped through the pads of Tuukka Rask to gave Ottawa a 3-2 lead as they finally took advantage of a team that played the night before.

A Bobby Ryan goal, through the five-hole, made the score 4-2 and thoroughly ruined Rask’s already rough night.

In retrospect, the Senators will think back to the Neil goal late in the first, when the home team had nothing going on.

They’re hardly alone in this, but in the big picture the Senators look at the Bruins and see the kind of team they would like to become.

A strong, consistent club that always contends in the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins reached the Stanley Cup final in two of the past three seasons and won the Cup in 2011.

“They’re a team we hold in high regard,” said Senators captain Jason Spezza. “We think they’re one of the better teams in the east.

“They’re probably a team we try to emulate. If you asked the coaches I’m sure they’d like us to be like Boston. There’s differences in the groups, differences in the teams, but they’re a team that plays hard for a full 60, they seem to always be in close games, they never really get blown out. Because of that they’ve had playoff success, too.”

While the Bruins worship at the altar of tight defence, thrilling to the 2-1 victory most nights, Spezza believes it would be overly simplistic to suggest the Bruins success is due to their commitment to a system.

“They’re all in, but they have some good players, too,” Spezza said. “Let’s not kid ourselves, they have a team that has a lot of good hockey players, a lot of guys that have been around — veteran players.

“A lot of it is them buying in and putting it together but when you’re winning it’s easier to do things and not get off script. We’re trying to create a culture like that around here.”

Senators winger Clarke MacArthur has a different perspective on the Bruins juggernaut, having been a part of the colossal comeback/collapse in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals last spring, when Toronto’s 4-1 thirdperiod lead was not enough to hold off Boston.

The former Maple Leaf was asked if that firsthand experience left him feeling awe, or merely hatred, for the Bruins.

“A bit of both,” he said. “You’re taking me back to that game, I’m mad at you right now, but they never gave up those last 10 minutes, they put the pressure on. You have to respect them, but you want to play them hard. I don’t want to give them an inch. But you’ve got to respect their team.”

To a point. No one was happier than MacArthur to see the Bruins wear a comeback for a change.

Tempering the excitement for the home team was a blatant head shot by Dennis Seidenberg on Ryan late in the game, which sent Ryan to the Senators dressing room. Seidenberg was not penalized on the play but the league will review it.