BOSTON — When the injury bug hits, it’s jarring and sudden. The Boston Bruins (9-7-0) will be familiar with that after tonight. Despite it, the Bruins won their fifth-straight game, knocking off the Ottawa Senators (6-5-3) 3-2 in overtime on Thursday night in TD Garden.
The hero tonight? Pavel Zacha, burying a rebound after Charlie McAvoy skated literal circles around the Senators.
John Beecher exited the game in the first period and did not return, suffering what the team termed an upper-body injury. Then, Andrew Peeke took a hard hit, left the bench for a bit before returning and blocking another shot, and crumpling. Still, Peeke stayed in the game and recorded two assists.
Peeke also won the player-awarded “Grinder of the Game” Award, according to Bruins’ Head Coach Marco Sturm postgame, with his efforts being recognized in the room.
Casey Mittelstadt also left for a portion of the second period, after Jake Sanderson hit him with knee-on-knee contact that went unpenalized.
For a portion of the second period, Boston’s bench featured just 10 players, instead of the usual 13. Considering, the circumstances, you’d expect Ottawa to be running the show.
Not so fast. Ottawa recorded just 10 shots through the first two periods, as Boston came ready to avenge last week’s 7-2 beat down in Canada’s capital.
Sharp defense and stingy neutral zone play dominated this game, as the Bruins limited Ottawa’s strong offense to limited chances all night long.
Joonas Korpisalo played another steady, strong game, stopping X shots in the win. Ex-Bruin Linus Ullmark played well, especially through dominant Boston stretches, stopping X in the defeat.
Boston absolutely dominated the opening frame of this game. That’s the good news from this period.
The bad news is, they still found themselves trailing 1-0 after the first period.
It came from a simple neutral-zone breakdown, the only major one for Boston over the first 40 minutes of hockey. Ottawa quickly broke up ice, made some quick passes leading to a 2-on-1.
Michael Amadio slammed in a backdoor feed from Shane Pinto just 5:42 into the game, on Ottawa’s first shot of the game.
From there, Boston did not allow another Ottawa shot for over 14 minutes, with Ottawa’s only other shot on goal coming with 1:06 to go in the first.
Morgan Geekie rang iron on Boston’s best chance of the period, but they could not find an equalizer in the frame.
The equalizer that evaded the Bruins in the first period evaded them for all of 82 seconds.
That’s when Geekie stole a puck in the offensive zone, worked it around to Andrew Peeke, who hammered it off the post. Geekie slammed in the rebound to tie the game.
The goal is Geekie’s 10th of the year, good for second in the NHL. He’s tied with David Pastrnak at 42 goals since November 27, 2024, the second most in the NHL during that span (Credit: Ty Anderson).
Boston’s cruise control continued. Mark Kastelic fought Kurtis MacDermid, while Boston continued to outshoot the Senators.
Shortly after a strong power play that failed to produce a goal, Sean Kuraly sniped a go-ahead goal past Ullmark with just under four minutes to go in the frame.
This clip doesn’t include it, but the goal doesn’t happen without Tanner Jeannot. He carried through center ice, found open space, and drew in two defenders to open Kuraly up for the pass and goal.
Seconds later, Kastelic had a breakaway, but just couldn’t beat Ullmark.
From that moment, the game began to turn. Kastelic took an interference penalty, and Ottawa pushed hard, but could not convert. Shots that period ended 9-8 Boston, after a 9-2 first period. Game totals read 18-10.
With Beecher out of the game, and Peeke and Mittelstadt hurting, Boston began to cede more control of the game to Ottawa, who came out hot to start the third period.
Ottawa looked quicker, and didn’t make it easy for Boston. Ultimately, Boston received a power play with 10:51 to go in the third, up 2-1.
They turned it over, and Pinto stormed in for three unbelievable chances to tie the game, but Korpisalo stopped them all. Pavel Zacha took a slashing penalty on the play, negating the last 1:18 of the power play.
Ottawa turned the heat up again, and on the shortened power play, Claude Giroux found himself in an ocean of space. He stepped into a wrister that just squeaked by Korpisalo, then trickled over the red goalline by an inch.
From there, both teams began playing more responsibly. Much like Tuesday’s contest with the Islanders, nobody wanted to cede an inch to the other, especially with how compact the standings are.
That led to another overtime for the Bruins, the third one of those in their last four games.
The Bruins started with Mark Kastelic taking the face-off in overtime, specifically to win that draw. He did it, then immediately changed. Another wrinkle to Boston’s overtime strategy.
The 3-on-3 frame was extra frenetic. There were tons of chances, with Korpisalo robbing Thomas Chabot’s one-timer howitzer point-blank in the slot.
Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov made up a duo in overtime, as Boston dominated possession for large swaths of the extra frame.
Minten eventually stalled, allowing for Geekie and Charlie McAvoy to get on the ice. Once Geekie received a pass, Minten sprinted to the bench, allowing David Pastrnak to come in 2-on-1 with Geekie, who fired the puck to Boston’s superstar forward.
He couldn’t get a clean look, as Ridly Greig slashed him with 41.9 seconds left in overtime. All of 2.3 seconds later, Geekie tripped Jake Sanderson, sending it right back to three-on-three hockey.
The setback didn’t hurt the Bruins. McAvoy almost won it single-handedly, but Zacha picked it out from between Ullmark’s legs, and stuffed home the overtime winner.
Up next for Boston is a home-and-home with the Toronto Maple Leafs, with the first leg coming in Toronto on Saturday night.
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