Bruins Live Blog: Bergeron Tips In Seidenberg's Shot To Give Bruins 2-1 Overtime Win
Final, 2-1 Bruins: The puck ever ... so ... slowly made its way across the goal line, but it counts. Patrice Bergeron tips a Dennis Seidenberg bomb from the point, and the Bruins leave with two points.
Overtime, 1:28, 1-1: A chaotic overtime period is nearly over, but the Bruins did (obviously) kill off that penalty. Rask is standing on his head in the OT period.
End of regulation, 1-1: The Bruins have earned themselves at least a point, but they'll have 1:29 of Lucic's penalty to kill off to begin overtime. The Senators' power play isn't a lethal unit, but anything can happen in 4-on-3 hockey.
Third period, 31.6, 1-1: Well, that's bad timing. Milan Lucic goes to the box for putting his hand on the puck. The Senators will get a power play before reticulation ends.
Third period, 1:29, 1-1: The pace is getting a little crazy, and the bodies are flying around a bit more recklessly, but still, it's 1-1. The B's now have 40 shots.
Third period, 5:15, 1-1: Adam McQuaid just floated a wrister on net from the blue line, and it left Lehner looking back behind his own shoulder after making the save. He had it though, and this one remains tied. The Bruins hold a 38-26 shot advantage, but it's only going to take one shot from either side to come up with a game-winner in the final five minutes.
Third period, 10:59, 1-1: The Bruins' power play, perhaps predictably, cannot score, and the game remains tied.
Chara did unleash a blast from the right circle from about 30 feet, with Bergeron screening in front. Lehner made the save (he has 34 tonight), and Bergeron kicked the puck into open space, but no Bruin was in the area to cash in.
The Bruins' power play is now 0-for-3 on the night and 7-for-54 on the season (13 percent).
Third period, 14:08, 1-1: Now would be a pretty good time for the Bruins' power play to wake up. Erik Condra goes to the box for tripping.
Third period, 20:00, 1-1: Twenty minutes to find a winner.
End of second period, 1-1: This one heads into second intermission tied 1-1. The Bruins still hold a healthy lead at 29-20, but those penalties finally came back to bite them.
Second period, 5:22, 1-1: A swing of emotions as the Senators bang home a loose puck just seconds after Rask stoned Daugavins on a power play breakaway.
After Rask made the save, Daugavins threw the puck back on net. The Bruins in the crease tried to gather it under Rask's pads, but it came loose and Jim O'Brien whacked at it enough to get it over the line. The Bruins' streak of consecutive killed penalties ends at 27.
Second period, 7:18, 1-0 Bruins: The Bruins' penalty kill is now 61-for-64 on the season. But they'll need to kill another, as the Bruins were whistled for too many men on the ice after Bourque got out of the box. I'll have to see a replay to know how that happened, as it was called after Bourque rushed the puck end to end. I'm not sure who messed up.
Second period, 9:32, 1-0 Bruins: The Bruins had a decent power play going, but Chris Bourque gets penalized for interference with 31 seconds left on the man advantage.
Second period, 11:01, 1-0 Bruins: The B's have seized all the momentum this period, as they now head to the power play. Gonchar to the box for hooking.
Second period, 14:12, 1-0 Bruins: It wasn't exactly pretty, but they all count.
Nathan Horton scores his seventh goal of the year, even though he didn't really get much of anything on his shot from the doorstep. He had just passed to Dougie Hamilton, who elected to pass back to Horton instead of shooting himself. Horton wasn't able to get a shot off as his stick was lifted from behind, but the puck trickled toward net and fooled Lehner, sliding right through his legs to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
Lucic gets the secondary assist on the play.
Second period, 20:00, 0-0: The second period is under way, and the Bruins need to watch out. The Senators are outscoring opponents 22-6 in the second period this year.
End of first period, 0-0: The Bruins end up with an 11-5 shot advantage, but this one heads into first intermission in a scoreless tie.
It's kind of an odd atmosphere here at the Garden, as the crowd really hasn't had much to be excited about and has responded accordingly. It'll take a goal, a fight or even just a hit in order to wake up the 17,565 in attendance.
The Bruins' penalty kill, by the way, is now 60-for-63 on the season, for a 95.2 percent success rate. There's no other team with a penalty kill rate better than 88.7 percent.
First penalty, 2:41: Another penalty killed by the NHL's best short-handed unit. The Senators did get a couple of shots, but nothing from in close.
First period, 5:17: The Senators go back on the power play as Chris Bourque gets whistled for hooking. He had just been replaced on the third line for a shift by Paille, but only because Bourque had just skated on the power play. Bourque was skating on the fourth line with Thornton and Campbell when he got called for the penalty.
First period, 6:59: The Bruins' power play starts off with an oh-fer. Seguin did fire a one-time missile but it missed wide. Horton also fanned on a one-timer from the slot on what could have been a nice chance.
First period, 9:51: Still no score, but we're getting a look at the special teams early on here.
Rich Peverley went off for tripping off a faceoff, but the Bruins killed that penalty with ease, allowing zero shots and even generating a scoring chance of their own.
Now the Bruins' power play gets its first chance of the night, as Dave Dziurzynski goes to the box for goaltender interference.
Worth noting that Chris Neil and Milan Lucic were exchanging a few words in the neutral zone on that last shift, with Neil getting into a little post-whistle shoving match with Adam McQuaid after Rask got wiped out. Looks like Neil wants to dance tonight. Will he find a partner?
First period, 13:12: Quite the brisk pace to this one early on, as we've had just three whistles in the opening 6:48. Tyler Seguin's gotten a couple of good scoring chances so far. The first came on the opening shift, when a passed from the right side of the offensive zone to Bergeron, who was standing along the left boards. He let Seguin skate to the net and fed him with a nice pass, but Seguin's redirect was deflected away by defenseman Chris Phillips.
Seguin's second chance came just now, on a purposefully wide slap pass from Boychuk at the right point. Seguin reached to redirect the pass toward goal, but it went just wide.
First period, 16:11: Nearly four full minutes of continuous action nets a shot a side.
First period, 20:00: Rene Rancourt has sung the anthems, and referee Kevin Pollock has dropped the puck. We have ourselves a hockey game in Boston.
7:03 p.m.: Just minutes from puck drop, and here are your starters for both teams.
Boston
Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin
Chara-Boychuk
Rask
Ottawa
Silfverberg-Turris-Alfredsson
Phillips-Gonchar
Lehner
6:48 p.m.: The Senators have some names on their roster that are not very live blog-friendly. If you see any typos on names like Mika Zibanejad, Dave Dziurzynski, Jakob Silfverberg or Kaspars Daugavins, please allow for extra leniency. Now, to practice .... Dave Dziurzynski, Dave Dziurzysnki, Dave Dziurzynski.
6:38 p.m.: No surprises in the Bruins' lines during warmups, as it was as expected:
Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin
Peverley-Kelly-Bourque
Paille-Campbell-Thornton
6 p.m.: At long last, the Bruins are back home, ready to host the Ottawa Senators with sole possession of second place in the Northeast Division on the line.
That standing comes with a rather significant technicality of course, with the Senators having played four more games than the Bruins so far this season. Still, it's the first of five meetings with the Senators, so they'll want to try to cool off the red-hot Senators, who come in winners of five straight.
The B's aren't doing too badly themselves, winners of four straight, so one way or the other, something's got to give.
Tuukka Rask was the first goalie off the ice at morning skate for the Bruins, so it looks like he'll be starting for the fifth straight game. For the Senators, Robin Lehner will get the start between the pipes. The 21-year-old Swede interestingly has just 10 NHL starts, but two have come against the Bruins. He shut out the Bruins last year in a 1-0 Ottawa win in Boston, and he allowed four goals on 33 shots in a 4-2 Bruins victory on Feb. 18, 2011. He'll be seeing his first action of the year tonight.
Check back during warmups, when I'll have the Bruins' lines, and stick with the live blog throughout the game for updates and analysis.
