BOSTON -- They wanted to give themselves a chance, and they accomplished that objective.
The Bruins, needing a win on Saturday night to hold onto at least some hope of finishing first in the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division, pulled away from the Ottawa Senators for a 5-2 victory at TD Garden, getting goals in the final two minutes from Noel Acciari and David Backes to move to 112 points for the season.
They get their chance at the [...]
BOSTON -- They wanted to give themselves a chance, and they accomplished that objective.
The Bruins, needing a win on Saturday night to hold onto at least some hope of finishing first in the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division, pulled away from the Ottawa Senators for a 5-2 victory at TD Garden, getting goals in the final two minutes from Noel Acciari and David Backes to move to 112 points for the season.
They get their chance at the top seed in the East on Sunday night, too: The Lightning’s overtime loss at Carolina on Saturday night left the B’s one point behind Tampa Bay, so a win over the Panthers in the final game of the regular season gives them the top spot. If they finish with the same 113 points as Tampa, the Bruins finish second in the Atlantic and open the playoffs against the Maple Leafs.
The Bruins, trying to avoid the type of slow starts that doomed them to three straight losses on the road (the first in overtime) before Saturday, weren’t energized by their return to the Garden. The Senators, despite getting blanked 4-0 on Friday night at Pittsburgh and playing without captain Erik Karlsson (family issue) and forward Mark Stone (injury), their co-leaders in scoring, had the better of the play over the first 20 minutes. The B’s managed only nine shots against goalie Daniel Taylor, who had made only three previous NHL appearances, the last in 2012-13 as a member of the Flames.
The Senators took a 1-0 lead against the Bruins’ top five-man unit of the Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak, backed by the top defense pairing of Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy. Hanover, Mass., native Colin White helped pry the puck away from Marchand and McAvoy along the wall just inside Bruins’ territory, linemate Matt Duchene collected it, and Duchene fed Ryan Dzingel for the only goal of the first period at 12:31.
The Bruins, who got Tommy Wingels (hand, two games) back, but were still missing injured forwards Rick Nash, Sean Kuraly, came to life in the second period. After Bergeron was set up for a shot from the right circle, the line of Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci and Danton Heinen buzzed the Senators net after Krejci won an offensive zone draw back to Krug. The B’s didn’t break through, though, until they got a power play when DeBrusk -- now with Krejci and David Backes, was felled by a high hit thrown by Mark Borowiecki, who was penalized for interference at 8:03.
Borowiecki barely had time to sit down in the penalty box. Five seconds into the power play, Bergeron found David Pastrnak alone in the left circle for a one-timer that tied it, 1-1.
The B’s had a lead less than a minute later. Wingels harassed Zach Smith into a turnover as Smith tried to exit the Senators’ zone, curled back into the slot with the puck, and put a shot home off the far goalpost from the left circle at 8:59.
Heinen, by now skating on a new line centered by Ryan Donato with Brian Gionta at right wing, netted his 16th goal of the season 2:59 before the period ended. Gionta’s clearing attempt got through the legs of Max McCormick at the Bruins’ blue line, Heinen collected it in the neutral zone, picked up Donato to make it a 2-on-1, and then hit the far side from the right circle to make it 3-1.