Boston Wins Its 5th Straight Game, 5-2 vs. Ottawa On An Otherwise Depressing Night at TD Garden

Hockey is an incredible sport that I will put up there with any other in the world in terms of entertainment value, life lessons that it teaches and team bonding that it naturally produces. With that said, since most of the violence has been rightfully erased from the NHL over the last decade, you almost forget that a game built on such breathtaking speed and agility sometimes can produce horrifying collisions. That's the grim backdrop for what otherwise should have been a very enjoyable night on Causeway Street as the B's (10-1-2) used a 3-0 third period to pick up a 5-2 victory against the Senators (3-8-1). Boston has the second best record in the Eastern Conference and the NHL while Ottawa is the worst team in both cases so the two points were a mere formality since the Bruins have now picked up five wins in a row.

Unfortunately, this game will most likely be remembered for one thing only: the scary scene in the first period after Senators rookie Scott Sabourin ran into David Backes and appeared to be knocked out in midair before he hit the ice face-first. Ugh, what a brutal event. He was down and motionless for what felt like an eternity as all of Ottawa and Boston's medical staff attended to him. The good news is that he gave the thumbs up to the crowd as he got wheeled off the ice on a stretcher and Ottawa's PR staff later reported on Twitter that he was alert and talking to the doctors before going to a hospital in Boston. Backes went to the dressing room for what we assumed was just to compose himself but it turned out that he left with an upper-body injury. He's suffered a sickening amount of concussions already in the league so I really hope that isn't the case once again, he'll be evaluated more tomorrow.

It seems secondary to even mention it at this point but there was a game after all and things did happen in it worth noting. The NHL's second star of the month in October-David Pastrnak-picked up right where he left off with a power-play goal just 1:17 into his first tilt in November. His NHL-best 13th goal of the season was also his seventh in the first period already this season and it extended his point streak to 11 games. It actually came off a set play that him and Torey Krug used last season vs. Calgary. Krug banked it off the end boards behind Senators goaltender Craig Anderson (27 saves, 2-5-0) and Pasta raced to it first before dekeing and jamming the puck over the line. Ottawa tied it at 12:04 of the first period when Anthony Duclair put in a one-timer from Logan Brown (who later left with an upper body injury of his own) and Mark Borowiecki.

With the top ranked power play in the NHL along with a penalty kill that isn't too shabby either (#9), Boston loves when games are decided by special teams and this was one of those routine events in today's whistle-happy league. The Bruins were caught with too many men on the ice early in the second period then Brad Marchand was called for two penalties (minor for hooking and double minor for spearing) on the same play. That meant they had to hold off the Senators for 55 seconds of a 5-on-3 then 5:05 of Marchand's temporary stupidity. Spoiler alert: they were able to do it. Granted, Ottawa has the worst power play in the NHL (#31) but it was still impressive nonetheless. Tuukka Rask (30 saves, 7-0-1) remains unbeaten in regulation for 2019-20.

The B's had taken a 2-1 lead earlier in the frame as Pastrnak chose to dish the puck to Patrice Bergeron (6 goals, 8 assists in his last 12 games) rather than take his own wide open shot. Bergeron's sixth goal of the season came at 1:51 and it was also assisted by Marchand (12-game point streak and 11-game assist streak, both career highs). The Senators might be awful and constantly rebuilding but at least they showed more effort than the Sharks for instance last Tuesday. Connor Brown tied it at 3:04 as he threw the puck in front and it bounced by Rask for his second goal of the season, assisted by Borowiecki and Dylan DeMelo (which sounds like the name of a bully at your local high school).

Riding an eight game point streak, I don't think that many Bruins fans were sweating despite the fact that their favorite team was knotted at two heading into the third period. The few doubters were quickly told to shut up for the evening as Boston scored three unanswered goals to clinch it. Danton Heinen started it off with a great individual effort to win the puck along the wall in the neutral zone and eventually find it again out front for his third goal of the season, unassisted at 5:43. Borowiecki took his third penalty of the contest and Marchand immediately made him pay with a one-timer from Pastrnak and Bergeron (his 500th NHL assist, only the 15th active player to reach that mark) at 6:50 for his eighth goal of the season. For good measure, Jake DeBrusk cranked in his best shot of the young season-a one-timer from Heinen at 16:16 for his second goal of the campaign.

Brett Ritchie and Joakim Nordstrom were both out with similar infections (were they hanging out in the Browns' staph infection riddled locker room from a few years ago?) so Peter Cehlarik was recalled from Providence. As usual, he showed no reason why he should featured regularly in the NHL (at least yet) so hopefully one or both of those guys can play in a few days when things should be much more difficult. Boston hosts Pittsburgh (8-5-1) on Monday (7, NESN)-the rare Monday Night Hockey-followed by their first meeting with Montreal (7-5-2) the following night (7:30, NBCSN) North of the border. I thought that Jaroslav Halak would get the start tonight (WRONG!) so I'll lick my wounds from that and guess that he will play against the Canadiens since Rask has a terrible history at the Bell Centre. Don't listen to me though as Jaro will probably start on Monday and Rask will get the start vs. Claude Julien's pukes. Regardless, it probably doesn't matter at the moment since the Black and Gold are absolutely on fire with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

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