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The Ottawa Senators arrived into Boston on a five-game winning streak. Their opponent, the Boston Bruins, had rattled off four consecutive victories of their own.
It was almost inevitable that the two sides would need overtime to decide the fate of tonight's game.
With just a couple of minutes left on the clock, Patrice Bergeron managed to ever-so-slightly push one by the seemingly-unbeatable Robin Lehner. Lehner scrambled to recover as the puck slowly inched across the red-line, but by the time Lehner's hand was in motion to swipe the puck out, the puck had already crossed the plane. After video review, the officials reversed the no-goal call on the ice, awarding Boston with the extra-point.
Said Lehner on the goal:
"Too bad we lost there. They got a tip there at the end and I couldn't recover."
The Bruins were the better team on the night, out-shooting and out-changing an undermanned Senators club that were just looking to stay alive in the raucous confines of TD Garden. But, Ottawa was rewarded for their effort with a point in the standings, led by the strong play of their blue-chip prospect goaltender in Robin Lehner.
With Craig Anderson on the mend, Paul MacLean made the choice to go with his Swedish netminder over the red-hot Ben Bishop, and like most coaching decisions he makes these days, it paid off. Lehner stopped forty-four of forty-six shots, and probably deserved a better fate.
The pair of regulation goals -- from Nathan Horton at 5:48 in the second, and Jim O'Brien at 14:38 in the second -- were just as bizarre as the overtime winner. Horton's attempt from the slot carried at about two miles per hour, but Lehner couldn't see the soft-pitch behind screens. Additionally, his own teammate -- Daniel Alfredsson -- accidentally tied up his stick, and Lehner had no way of recovering in time.
O'Brien's power-play marker was another weird one. Patrick Wiercioch had sprung Kaspars Daugavins on a breakaway, but Daugavins' deke fell by the wayside in-tight. Rask, Chara, and the Bruins tried to clear the puck, but it remained motionless in the crease. Jim O'Brien knocked it in at the doorstep, and it would prove enough to earn the team a point.
Ottawa's five-game winning streak came to a close, but with eleven points in twelve games for a team that looks more like the Binghamton Senators than the Ottawa Senators, I don't think there will be a ton of complaints. Ottawa was mostly out-classed in Boston on Thursday, but once again, quality goaltending kept them in it. For record, that's the twelfth time this season Ottawa's yielded just one goal or less in regulation.
The Senators are back in action Saturday against the Flyers. The Bruins will play host to the Lightning on the same.
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