By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
The Boston Bruins failed to record a shot on Linus Ullmark in his homecoming to Boston in the third period as the Bruins fell to the Ottawa Senators, 3-2, in overtime on Saturday night.
Brady Tkachuk netted the Senators’ game winner just 21 seconds into sudden death while Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves on 34 shots. Brad Marchand and Pavel Zacha scored the goals for Boston.
The Bruins were far from perfect in the opening frame, being outshot by a 10-7 margin while churning eight giveaways. Pair that with a 26.1% clip at the faceoff dot, and the Bruins weren’t exactly helping themselves. Zacha headlined the whimsical effort with a 0-for-6 showing in the first. Charlie Coyle was 1-for-6.
It looked like the Bruins would escape trouble, but a defensive lapse by Boston’s struggling penalty-kill unit allowed Ottawa to break the ice. The Bruins, who entered Saturday night’s clash with the 23rd-best kill in the league (75.8%), again revealed its gaping holes.
In the waning seconds of the period, the Bruins were roughly eight seconds from walking away unscathed from a subpar first period. But with Charlie McAvoy and Nikita Zadorov both below the goal line and Marchand and Charlie Coyle stuck on one side of the ice, Josh Norris was left on an island. And he didn’t throw away that opportunity, unleashing a laser over Swayman’s blocker as the Senators hit the locker room with a 1-0 lead.
The Bruins killed two penalties in the second period in what was a much-improved effort in the frame, and they were rewarded for it on the scoreboard. Netting a pair of goals in 15 seconds, TD Garden came alive as the Bruins took a 2-1 lead on goals from Zacha and Marchand.
Zacha’s tally all started on a strong play from Zadorov to keep the puck in the zone, as David Pastrnak fed a pass to a spinning Zacha to beat Ullmark on the backhand. After playing 13 games without finding twine, Zacha has scored in consecutive games for the first time in 2024-25.
Then, Marchand gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead on a rebound, kickstarted by a net drive from Hampus Lindholm. Boston’s captain has recorded eight points in his last eight games to pace a Bruins offense looking for an anchor.
But the Senators wouldn’t allow for Boston’s 20 minutes to be flawless. Spoiling the B’s chances of nursing a 2-1 lead into the third period, Michael Amadio beat Swayman clean on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle to knot the game at two with 2:44 to play in the third. Amadio, who was signed by the Senators as a free agent last summer, appears to have snuck his shot past a moving screen from Zadorov.
Then the Bruins played a full 20-minute period of hockey without a shot on goal. Not a typo. While the Senators peppered Swayman with 12 shots, Ullmark stood patiently in his crease waiting for some action. The Bruins struggled to create second-chance opportunities on the rush.
Despite a few chances to open the overtime period, Boston couldn’t pick up both points when Tkachuk beat Swayman to send the Bruins to the dressing room wandering down another low of the 2024-24 season.
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