Not to sound like too much of a degenerate but there will be two more opportunities (in the regular season) for you to cash in on the Boston Bruins' dominance of the Ottawa Senators this season.
Boston (37-20-3) improved to a perfect 4-0 against Ottawa (32-23-8) with a closer-than-it-should-have-been 5-3 win tonight at Scotiabank Place.
The Bruins have outscored the Senators 19-11 in those four games; they've tallied 4+ each time including five goals in three of those contests. The Senators have been held to three goals (three times) or less every time.
This one had some drama as the B's built up a 4-1 lead in the third period but then fell asleep briefly as Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson beat them twice with basically the same one-timer from the left-hand wall.
Patrice Bergeron (2 goals, 1 assist) clinched it with an empty-netter that made it 5-3 with 19 seconds remaining.
These teams actually meet again on Tuesday and I would expect more fights since Chris Neil knocked Johnny Boychuk out of the game with a clean but nasty hit. Later, Zdeno Chara and Neil fought. Plus, Kyle Turris elbowed Joe Corvo in the head.
Tim Thomas (27 saves; 26-12-0) gave Boston a five-point lead over the Senators in the Northeast Division with three games in hand for the Bruins (four by the time Ottawa comes to Boston).
Erik Karlsson (14th goal of the season; 1 goal, 2 assists), the NHL's leading scorer for defensemen, wasted little time as he gave the Senators a 1-0 lead 1:10 into the first period. Jason Spezza (3 assists) and Milan Michalek had the assists as the shifty Swede stickhandled into a good shooting lane and beat Thomas.
Just 2:46 later, Bergeron (18th of the season) answered with a rebound goal past Senators backup goaltender Alex Auld (33 saves). Chara and Tyler had the assists but Bergeron did most of the work by parking himself in front of Auld.
Auld showed just how terrible he is by giving up a weak goal to Brad Marchand (career-high 22nd of the season) at 16:13 of the first. Bergeron and Chara assisted on Marchand's wrister that beat Auld from a long distance.
There was a cool moment in the second period as rookie Carter Camper potted his first NHL goal. It wasn't a classic since his backhander didn't have much on it but who cares? Adam McQuaid assisted at 3:57.
David Krejci (13th of the season) staked Boston to a commanding 4-1 lead with a power-play strike at 10:24 of the third from Dennis Seidenberg and Corvo. Krejci was in the right spot as he followed Auld's stop by snapping a shot over his leg pads.
The longest road trip of the season ended with a 3-2-1 mark. Not bad at all, especially considering they never won two games in a row. They'll get to come back to TD Garden and wait to see if anyone gets dealt by the 3 p.m. trade deadline on Monday afternoon. Otherwise, they'll return to home ice on Tuesday night against the Senators.
UPDATE 2/26: The Bruins sent Andrew Bodnarchuk and Josh Hennessy to Providence, meaning that they are probably on the verge of making a move.
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