The fight the Bruins have shown since the trade deadline showed up 20 minutes late in Ottawa on Thursday. That was enough tardiness to let a good chance slip away.
The Senators got money goaltending when it mattered from the netminder the B’s traded last summer, Linus Ullmark, while the B’s did not get the same from Jeremy Swayman, yanked after a team-wide disaster of a first period. The result was a 6-3 Ottawa win and a lost chance for the B’s to cash points with now just 15 games to play.
It was the fifth straight win for the Sens, who have put themselves in a great spot to end a seven-year playoff drought. Meanwhile, the B’s failed again to win three straight, something they have not been able to do since December.
With a chance to pull even with second wild card holder Columbus Blue Jackets, who lost to Vegas on Thursday, the B’s simply did not meet the moment. While they remain only two points back, every team with a chance for the final WC spot has games in hand on the B’s. The Rangers, meanwhile, did pull even with the Jackets in points with an overtime win in Minnesota.
“We just weren’t good enough in most of the facets in the first period,” interim coach Joe Sacco told reporters in Ottawa. “Our execution wasn’t quite there, we weren’t sharp, our passing was off. They got us back on our heels and they took the play to us in the first period … I think a lot of it was self inflicted. Our decisions with the puck at times weren’t accurate. We needed to reduce the risk of how we were handling the puck and we didn’t do that.”
The Senators nearly ran the Bruins out of the building – and the B’s were only too willing to offer themselves up as road kill – in the first period in which the Sens took a 4-1 lead.
The B’s were outworked and Swayman didn’t do anything to cover up his mates’ issues.
The first goal came after Andrew Peeke’s stretch pass intended for David Pastrnak didn’t connect and the puck came back in the Boston zone on icing. Ottawa pressured until Shane Pinto’s shot from the right side of the slot beat Swayman under his left pad, a softy, at 3:44.
The Bruins appeared to have something going in the offensive zone but the puck bounced over Parker Wotherspoon’s stick and, all of a sudden, the B’s were on their heels in their own zone. Eventually the puck came around to Tyler Kleven at the left point and he blasted it over Swayman’s shoulder at 9:09.
The one shining moment for the B’s in the first came from their new Minnesota line at 10:57. After Vinni Lettieri used his speed to wipe out an icing call, the puck eventually came back around to him behind the net. He stepped out front and made a nice backhand feed to Casey Mittelstadt in the slot and Mittelstadt buried it past Ullmark, who was not very busy in the first (15-4 shot advantage for Ottawa in the first). It was Mittelstadt’s first goal as a Bruin.
Then the B’s went back to their old ways, allowing a pair of goals in 22 seconds.
John Beecher took an unnecessary interference call on dive king Tim Stutzle and the Sens cashed in on the power play. From the right side of the net, Brady Tkachuk found Drake Batherson open on the left side. It would have been a tough save for Swayman anyway, but when he lost an edge and couldn’t push off, he fell on his backside and Batherson had an easy goal.
Then on the next shift, Swayman misplayed the puck. Instead of rimming it up the boards to a teammate, the puck ricocheted straight back off the end boards. Ottawa controlled it and eventually Ridley Greig beat Swayman off a rebound at 16:43.
Sacco let Swayman finish out the period but Joonas Korpisalo replaced him to start the second. Swayman wasn’t close to his best, but neither was anyone else.
“That’s just not on Sway, all of that. Obviously that’s on everyone. We were just trying to give the team a lift there,” said Sacco.
That happened, but it took a while. Korpisalo (15 saves) was under siege to start the second, but the former Senator held his ground and the B’s cut the deficit to two at 6:59. A loose puck came out to Beecher at the blue line and he threw it back at the net. Pastrnak was there to deflect it past Ullmark (22 saves) for his 34th of the season.
But the Sens regained their three-goal bulge at 11:01. Thomas Chabot blasted a blue line shot that newest Senator Dylan Cozens deflected over the net. As Korpisalo searched for the puck, it bounced out to Batherson for an easy goal.
The B’s, however, kept playing and got it back to two again at 13:55. Jakub Lauko chipped the puck out to the neutral zone, where Elias Lindholm made a touch pass to Marat Khusnutdinov. The young Russian turned on his jets and, after drawing a penalty, beat Ullmark for his first goal as a Bruin.
There were chances to get it down to a one-goal deficit. The B’s got their first power play opportunity and they had a couple chances that went by the wayside.
Then Ullmark made a save of the year candidate. Off some good Bruin pressure, Khusnutdinov fed Mason Lohrei for what looked like an open net from the right circle, but Ullmark extended his 6-foot-4 frame to make a miraculous glove save with 1:29 left in the period.
“Great pass by Khoozy. I’ve got to bury that one,” said Lohrei.
Finally, in the waning seconds of the second, Nikita Zadorov clanged the near post. The B’s had started their push but they were still down by a pair going into the third. They never got closer, thanks to Ullmark.
He came up big again midway through the third period when the B’s flurried with his best save coming again on Lohrei.
Sacco pulled Korpisalo with a little over 4:00 left and Ullmark immediately made a couple of excellent saves. Ullmark missed his attempt on a goalie goal but, shortly after that, Claude Giroux ended it with an empty netter with 1:16 remaining.
