Sens Come Back to Win Wild One 6-5 in Shootout

Maybe afternoon starts aren't so bad? The Senators came out with strong shifts from multiple lines, and were rewarded early with a goal from a pretty little scorer who'll never make you fret, Gaudette.

(oh, oh, Gaudette)

With the early lead, the Sens kept the pressure up. Around the 7 minute mark, Norris beat Swayman clean... but couldn't beat the post. The Bruins were lucky to not be down 2-0, but that wouldn't last long. Shortly after Stützle first tried to feed a wide open Gaudette - the pass couldn't get through traffic, but Timmy picked the puck back up and just decided to just do it himself.

A concern with a game like this is a goalie getting complacent. Merilainen didn't have to make a save until almost six minutes in, and was close to 10 minutes before actually being challenged. Boston would get on the board shortly after though, when the entire Senators penalty kill unit got caught on one side of the zone, opening up the space for the Bruins to beat Leevi clean.

In a "you don't see that every day" moment, Pavel Zacha ended up in the box immediately after scoring the goal for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the ensuing Sens power play is best left unmentioned.

Boston started to wake up as the period went on, and Ottawa payed for it with a late Pastrnak goal off a partial break to send the game to intermission tied 2-2.

In the game's second "you don't see that every day" moment, Vinnie Lettieri ended up making an impromptu line change when Brady Tkachuk bodychecked him into the Boston bench, and Pastrnak jumped over the boards to take his place. That didn't end up being a good thing for Ottawa though, as Pastrnak made a play along the boards that ended up in the back of the Sens net via Zacha and Geekie.

The game started to boil over a few minutes later, with an extended scrum before a face-off. Parker Wotherspoon did not appreciate being buzzed by Stützle on the way to lineup, and gave him a little shove to the head and then everybody got involved. In the end it was Cousins and Marchand sent to the box for roughing, though Marchand picked up an extra two sending Ottawa to the man advantage.

It was the Sens power play's turn to waste no time, with a Sanderson bomb from the blue line being tipped by Norris past Swayman just 13 seconds in to tie things up at 3. Aaaaaalmost repeating the rest of what happened with Boston's power play goal, Brady gave Swayman a little shove with the elbow after the goal went in, but not enough of one to to draw the referee's arm.

All of the rough stuff finally broke into a fight, with Kastelic and Ostapchuk dropping the gloves. This time it was Ostapchuk taking the extra roughing call, putting Ottawa on the kill but the Bruins couldn't make anything of it.

With just over five minutes left in the period, a wobbly point shot made it past Merilainen to give Boston their second lead of the game. It wasn't a great goal, but it's also the first time I can think of since Ullmark has been out where I've found myself saying "Leevi probably wants that one back".

The Senators had some solid chances for the rest of the period, including a second post by Norris (this time deflected off his skate) with under a minute left, but would go to the second intermission down by a goal.

The third period was more of the second - trading chances, and trading penalties. Tkachuk's agitating in front of the net finally ended up in a fight, putting the Tkaptain in the box for five minutes.

Boston would get some sustained pressure thanks to a powerplay about half way through the period. They didn't score on the man advantage, but kept the momentum up to get their first two goal lead of the afternoon.

The momentum flipped back to Ottawa at that point. It wasn't quite the control of most of the first period, but plenty of pressure. With Merilainen on the bench with plenty of time left, the Sens turned the Boston slot into a shooting gallery. With rapid fire chances, it was Nick Jensen picking up a rebound and firing it past Swayman to put the Sens back within one with just over three minutes left in the clock.

Leevi made his way to the bench as soon as he could again, as Ottawa searched for the equalizer. They were getting their chances, but then Boston started getting theirs - including one by Swayman. But Ottawa managed to get in front of each and every one, and with just 12 seconds left Josh Norris got revenge for the second post with his second goal and blew the roof off the CTC by sending the game to extra time.

Overtime was some firewagon hockey, like 3 on 3 regularly was before it was coached to death. Boston managed to get a 2 on 0 rush, but rang it off the post. Tkachuk fired a puck at Swayman who seemed to make the easy save, but the puck trickled out to the side and Norris couldn't poke it in. Ottawa had a 3 on 1 with 15 seconds left, but Swayman made the save on Sanderson. Pinto, who had himself a (snakebitten) night, had one last solid chance right at the buzzer but overtime solved nothing.

The shootout opened with Tim Stützle showing some extreme patience, first drawing Swayman out, then down, and getting around to put the puck in from a wide angle.

That would hold up as the game winner, because at the other end of the rink, Leevi Merilainen had ice water running through his veins. He stopped all three Bruins attempts for his first NHL shootout win - even giving Pastrnak a little look of "you did not just try that" after stopping the attempt to sneak the puck through the five-hole.

Your Ottawa Senators end the evening back in a wild card spot, and the Bruins are on the outside looking in.

Thoughts

• Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson were both on missions tonight, and probably deserved more than an assist each. Pinto had eight shots and 12 shot attempts, while Sanderson had seven shots and 13 attempts
• Not the first (or second, or third) time recently I've thought that they might regret not getting more out of a dominant first period. So far it has only been Washington where that ended up costing them though
• Probably would have been nice to have Tkachuk on the ice for the third period power play when he was still in the box for his fight, but that's the price you sometimes pay for the game he plays. Since it was him playing his game that screened Swayman on the third goal, it came out as "worth the price" today
• Merilainen continues to impress. He did have the one softer goal today, but overall played well without much chance on the rest of the goals, a number of huge saves, and shut the door in the shootout
• Scoring twice with the empty net doesn't happen very often, but this group has done it not that long ago (considering how rare it is) - in Feburary 2023, against Calgary
• Right back at it tomorrow afternoon, with a 1pm game in New Jersey