It was a game that had a little bit of everything. It was a playoff type atmosphere, with both the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins laying it on the line, which made for an intense and sometimes sloppy game as players tried on occasion to do too much.
Andrew Hammond's streak of allowing 2 goals or less came to an end, but his string of getting points for his club continued as he made just enough stops to let his team outlast the Bruins 6-4.
The building was electric before puck drop, and that was only accelerated with Kyle Turris' goal 19 seconds after the drop of the puck. The Bruins didn't let that lead last long, scoring 40 seconds later. That was just the start of a roller coaster game, that saw lead changes, one referee have to leave the game after a collision and the other ref getting nailed by a shoot-in and call his ability to remain in the game into question.
There was the 5-on-3 goal for the Bruins, one that was really debatable because the officials fell for Loui Eriksson's embellishment after Kyle Turris' check. Eriksson drew another penalty 40 seconds later, but this one was legitimate as Eric Gryba hit him in the face after a failed stick-check. Newfound Senator Killer Ryan Spooner scored his 4th goal in 9 nights against Ottawa alone with his second of the night that evened the score at 3.
That is the problem that arises when a call is missed like the Turris one. It isn't so much the penalty that hurts, but the compounding of the problem when the second, legit call has to be made. For all the man-handling that went on and clutching and grabbing that was allowed to happen both ways, the call on Turris was a curious one and could have been devastating in that tight game.
Anyway, Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored shorthanded shortly after that goal to put Ottawa back in front, but Torey Krug tied it back up just after the Gryba penalty had expired.
Bobby Ryan scored for the first time in 6 games, and it turned out to be the winner after his shot from the boards was stopped but the rebound went off Zdeno Chara's skate and past Tuukka Rask. Turris added an empty netter with 19 seconds left to cap a huge win over the team they are chasing for the final playoff spot.
The line of Turris, Milan Michalek and Mark Stone each had 3 points as they led the way again for the Sens.
Mike Hoffman was taken off the Zibanejad line about halfway through the game, as his slum continues, highlighted by the fact he heeled a puck from about a foot away with a wide open net late in the first period and the game tied at 2. He was replaced by Matt Puempel, who was driving to the net when the winner went in off the Bruins' big blueliner. He, and Ryan for that matter, seemed to be gripping the sticks a little tight for most of the night and hopefully Ryan's goal will settle him down.
Hammond's night got off to a dramatic start as he came out for puck drop and had to turn back around because of a broken skate lace, missing the anthems. It looked for a moment like Chris Dreidger might be forced to make the start in his absence, but Hammond rushed out of the tunnel just in time. Hammond reiterated after the game that he wasn't as worried about the record as long as he helped his team get the valuable 2 points.
Ottawa will host the free-falling Maple Leafs on Saturday while Boston heads to Florida for a tough set of back to back games in Miami Saturday night and then Tampa late Sunday afternoon. This was a big win, but the job is far from done and the gap could be anywhere from 0 to 6 points as of Monday morning, but either way the Senators will then have 2 games in hand.
By the way, the Capitals, the other team on the edge of falling back into race from the lead, had a big win in Minnesota and now sits 7 points up with the Senators holding 2 games in hand. They seem to be keeping their head above water even with the daunting schedule that they have ahead of them. So the Bruins are back to the team with the targets on their back for the Senators.