The Ottawa Senators can once again thank Craig Anderson for being in a game that halfway through they probably shouldn't have been in. A slow start in the second period saw the Sens rely on Anderson to keep the game scoreless, and even when they were provided with a golden opportunity in the form of a lengthy 5 on 3, they couldn't capitalize.
But after taking a 1 goal lead courtesy of Kyle Turris, the Senators surrendered a pair of goals to Torey Krug and Brad Marchand and needed a fortunate bounce off the skate of Mike Hoffman to force overtime where Bobby Ryan was the hero again, beating the Bruins for the second consecutive time.
The first period was sleepy at best, with the teams not really having much jump for the 1:00 start. The Bruins came out ready for the second, but Anderson stood strong. A pair of Boston penalties gave the Senators the opportunity to take the lead with 1:41 of a two man advantage and probably should have if it weren't for Ryan's stick breaking on a point-blank chance.
The game was there for the taking, and before Eric Gryba's shot went in off Hoffman's skate, the Senators wasted another 41 second 5 on 3.
While the win is nice, a win in regulation would have been that much better considering it is the Bruins they are trying to reel in before they can put a playoff spot in their sights.
That quest resumes tonight when the Senators return home from Beantown to face the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were able to watch the Senators game from the comfort of their Ottawa hotel room having had Saturday night off.
The Lightning are smarting off a 6-3 loss to the undermanned Pittsburgh Penguins, a game where Ben Bishop was pulled after allowing 3 goals on 10 shots in less than 14 minutes of action.
While Steven Stamkos is the most dangerous player the Lightning have, it is Tyler Johnson who leads the team in scoring, as the line of Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov has been absolutely lights out in their last 5 games. Not only have the trio of sophomores put up points, but each of them is at least +22, and they are a combined +73.
Ottawa is looking for its 3rd straight win, a feat they haven't accomplished since their 4 game winning streak that ended on October 25th against the Devils. At that time they had a 4-1 record. Robin Lehner is expected to get the start for the Senators, with Bishop likely going back in for the Bolts after getting pulled early on Friday.
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For the last time this season, fans will be torn between the Senators and Team Canada's World Junior squad. Team Canada will face off in the semi-finals against Slovakia, a team they whitewashed 8-0 in the tournament opener. Of you watched TSN SportCentre last night (or the endless loop this morning), you saw Craig Button try to drum up some anticipation by saying how much the Slovakian team is improved from the last meeting "last year" (it was 10 days ago). And while Slovakia is playing better, Canada got nothing from Connor McDavid or Curtis Lazar that day, as McDavid was still showing signs of rust from his broken hand and developing chemistry with the Ottawa Senators' forward.
The fact of the matter is, that Canada will steamroll the Slovaks once again, and probably in very dominant fashion. A 5 or 6 goal margin of victory wouldn't surprise me in the least and that will benefit the team heading into tomorrow's gold medal game against either Russia or Sweden, who will have to battle it out for the other spot in the final. I would give the edge to Sweden, primarily because they won't allow as many power play opportunities to the Russians as the Americans did in the quarterfinal.
So get your remote ready and picture in picture warmed up!