Bruins grind down Senators, 3-1
David Pastrnak scores twice in win
The Ottawa Senators have given the Bruins fits this season and, in Monday’s matinee, they proved again to be no pushover.
But the B’s did what they could to make sure they won’t be seeing the Sens in the first round of the playoffs.
The Sens came into the Garden with two wins over the B’s to their credit this season, as well as a 7-2-1 record in their previous 10 to pull the edge of the playoff bubble into view. But David Pastrnak scored a pair of goals and Linus
Ullmark made 30 saves to send the B’s out on a four-game Western trip with a 3-1 victory, their fourth straight win.
“I give them credit,” said B’s coach Jim Montgomery. “They’re playing 2-in-2, back-to-back games and they play the right way. They’re above you all the time. They’re hard, they’re physical, they go to hard areas, they play playoff-type hockey. That’s a team that, if they keep pushing, they’re going to be right on the doorstep.”
But the B’s may have pushed them off that doorstep. After Monday’s loss, the Sens were five points behind eighth-place Pittsburgh, which was playing on Monday night, and they had four teams in between themselves and the Penguins.
The Sens played the appropriately desperate brand of hockey for their current lot in life, but the B’s matched them in that department, and then the league leaders’ world-class talent won out in the end.
The first period had some good energy — and lot of penalties. The B’s had two power-play chances that went for naught while the Sens had a 5-on-3 for 1:50 that the
B’s expunged, as they did another conventional Ottawa PP. While the B’s went 0-for-4 on the power-play, their league-leading penalty kill stepped up again, going 3-for-3 against the NHL’S third-ranked power play.
“Really important. They’re one of the best power plays in the league and we had to go 5-on-3 for a long time,” said Montgomery. “Again, the penalty-killers, plus Linus. He was excellent tonight.”
But there were also a couple of goals scored in the opening period. First, Jake Debrusk scored his second goal in as many games and seventh in his last eight games dating back to before