By: Andrew Bluestein | Follow Me On Twitter / X @adbblue
The Boston Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-0 at TD Garden Thursday night, earning an enormous two points. The two teams were dead even in the standings coming into this tilt, and the Bruins were on the outside of the playoff picture.
Thanks to a great 30-save shutout performance by Joonas Korpisalo and a superb job by the penalty kill, Boston pulled out the victory. With the win, the Bruins are now 12-1-1 in their last 14 home games. Head coach Joe Sacco touched on his team after the win after losing 5-1 to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday. “This group has the resiliency, and we respond.”
First Period
The Bruins opened the game with a few solid chances and controlled the play early, registering the first four shots on goal. Later on, Pavel Zacha rang the post on a shot from the faceoff dot, but Anton Forsberg fell on the puck for a whistle. With 8:12 left in the opening frame, the Senators got the game’s first power play but did not convert.
Then, with 5:30 left, they got their second chance with the man advantage, but Boston was once again able to kill it off. Korpisalo was sound between the pipes, stopping all 10 shots he faced. After the game, the netminder praised his team for his performance. “Felt great, feels good for the whole team.”
Second Period
The Bruins got on the board just over 2:00 into the second period. David Pastrnak made a creative play behind the Ottawa net and found Morgan Geekie on the doorstep, who tapped it home for a 1-0 lead. During the post-game, he jokingly said, “I mean, he fakes me out sometimes.” referring to Pastrnak’s puck distribution. Pastrnak extended his point streak to six games with the helper.
Geekie then let his physical presence be known by putting a thunderous open ice hit on Thomas Chabot. After the hit, Chabot took a retaliatory cross-checking penalty, giving the Bruins their first power play. Despite a handful of good chances, they could not cash in.
Third Period
It was another strong start for the Black and Gold to open a period with the line of Geekie, Zacha, and Pastrnak at the center of it. With 14:42 left, the Bruins received their second power play of the night. They were unsuccessful again and dogged a bullet, allowing a couple of shorthanded chances. With 10:39 to go, Ottawa went to the power play.
The Bruins caught a break after a whistle was blown on a loose puck before the Senators put it past the goal line. Then, with 0:32 left on the power play, Boston was called for a delay of game penalty and went down two men. The Penalty killers dug deep and killed off the remainder of both penalties.
Pastrnak put the cherry on top by making a great steal at the blue line and buried an empty net goal, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead with 0:04 left. Pastrnak talked about how much he believed in his team after the victory. “We can play a full 60 minutes with focus and good defense. And when we are dialed in like this, playing like that, I think we can beat anybody.”
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