Apparently Back-to-Back Games in the NHL are Tough, Who Knew?

Boston came into Ottawa tonight riding high after their overtime win over Columbus last night (hold your laughter) and a four-game winning streak. It turns out that all dreams go to die at the perfectly lame titled Canadian Tire Centre. The Bruins (12-6-1) fell 4-2 to the Senators (8-7-4) after building up a 2-0 lead halfway through the first period but then doing absolutely nothing else but self destructing.

Things looked swell early as Loui Eriksson got another one of his phantom goals at 6:03. He "tipped" Matt Bartkowski's shot from the point for his fourth goal of the season, also assisted by Patrice Bergeron's faceoff win in Ottawa's zone. Brad Marchand played like his old self for a shift, weaving around the Senators' defensemen and wristing the puck by Craig Anderson (30 saves) at 9:50. His third goal of the season was assisted by Bartkowski and Eriksson.

Ottawa got some life by an unlikely source: goon Chris Neil who received a cupcake of a turnover (sorry to mix my desserts) from Torey Krug. By scoring with 50 seconds left in the first period and cutting it to 2-1, he swung the momentum to the home team's side.

Neither club did much in the second period so fast forward to the third where the B's tripped all over themselves (or something worse) while the Senators pounced on Tuukka Rask's (27 saves) worst game of the season.

Jason Spezza kicked off three goals in 8:39 for Ottawa when he finished a beautiful slap pass by Erik Karlsson at 1:32. After tying it at two, Ottawa never looked back as something named Jared Cowen's shot from the point beat Rask (it deflected off Johnny Boychuk's stick and went through Rask's five-hole) at 5:42. Not content for that to be the final gaffe, Bobby Ryan mugged Reilly Smith and took the puck away like nothing. His snap shot went off the inside of the post and in at 10:11, goodnight Bruins!

Boston gets two days off before they play in Carolina on Monday (7, NESN). Yes that's right, the Bruins meet the Hurricanes (8-7-4, 3rd in Metropolitan Division) a few hours before the Patriots and Panthers kick off the second most anticipated NFL game of the weekend. Unlike New England and Carolina, not much is expected of Bruins-Hurricanes since Carolina is a blah team minus Cam Ward and Jeff Skinner. Since it is the beginning of another back-to-back (Tuesday at Rangers), I'll submit my uneducated guess that Chad Johnson gets another start on Monday.

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Khudobin Is The Best Third/Fourth String Goaltender In The NHL

Considering that tonight's game once again meant absolutely nothing to the Boston Bruins, they have to be very happy how it ended up.

The B's (48-29-4) reached 100 points with a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators (41-30-10) at Scotiabank Place.

Anton Khudobin made his Bruins debut a memorable one as he stopped 44 shots to grab the victory. Rookie defenseman Torey Krug picked up his first NHL point (an assist) and word out of Boston was that Johnny Boychuk is only day-to-day with a mild knee sprain. That's the best news of all since his injury looked pretty serious.

Former University of Maine goaltender Ben Bishop (24 saves) got the start for Ottawa in net.

The most important thing is that nobody on Boston got injured as they took the season series with Ottawa 5-1. The B's will either play Ottawa (92 points) or Washington (90 points) in the first round of the playoffs, everybody in the NHL wraps up the regular season on Saturday. Boston had way more trouble with the Capitals so I'm rooting for the Senators to face the Bruins. It is just a much better matchup.

Benoit Pouliot (16th of the season), Greg Zanon (3rd of the season) and Milan Lucic (26th of the season) scored for Boston. Jason Spezza (34th of the season) had the lone goal for the Senators.

The Bruins return home for a game Saturday afternoon at TD Garden vs. Buffalo, who found out tonight that they'll miss out on the postseason so they'll have nothing to play for but pride (which is something they usually lack).

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In 2011-12, The Bruins Own The Senators

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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Paille Scores Twice As Bruins Win 5-2 In Ottawa

You'll be hard-pressed to find a team in the NHL with more depth than the Boston Bruins.

For the second game in a row, they were without captain and defensive stalwart Zdeno Chara but it didn't seem to matter as the B's (20-9-1) beat the Senators (14-14-4) 5-2 tonight at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.

Tim Thomas (14-5-0) made a season-high 47 saves and Daniel Paille scored a pair of third-period goals as the Bruins picked up their third consecutive win (and second in back-to-back nights). Eight players had points for Boston which didn't have a power play and killed off all five man-advantages for Ottawa.

In the first real notable action of the night, heavyweights Matt Carkner and Milan Lucic squared up for a solid bout at 11:46.

Boston survived a slow start as Thomas made some nice saves early in the first period. Rich Peverley (6th of the season) appears to have rediscovered his goal-scoring touch as he potted his second in as many games. His wrist shot at 12:10 from Andrew Ference (2 assists) and Joe Corvo beat Senators goaltender Craig Anderson (24 saves).

Ageless Daniel Alfredsson (8th of the season) tied it at 4:23 of the second period thanks to a nice feed from linemate Jason Spezza. I know Ottawa made that one random run to the Stanley Cup Finals but it's a shame that Alfredsson has never been on a consistent contender because he's a great player. His wrist shot was similar to Peverley's.

Chris Kelly (12th of the season, 3 away from his career-high) put Boston up 2-1 at 13:47. The tally put the B's ahead for good and fittingly it occurred on a classic Kelly goal-his 200th NHL point. After Johnny Boychuk's big shot from the point, Kelly was there to put the rebound in. Peverley had the second assist.

Adam McQuaid picked up a game misconduct for an ugly knee-to-knee hit on Nick Foligno. It was awkward since Foligno was about to skate by and Quaider clearly stuck his knee out at Ottawa's blue line. He's a tough but honest player so I doubt there was any intent to injure. Anyway, after skating off gingerly, it was nice to see Foligno return shortly after that.

In the third period, Patrice Bergeron (6th of the season) was the beneficiary of a bad giveaway and lucky bounce which sprung him on a partial breakaway. He scored at 4:54 to give the Bruins an insurmountable two-goal lead (3-1).

For the 11th time this season (which has to be near the top of the NHL), the B's scored a pair of goals in under a minute as 56 seconds later Paille (4th of the season) scored on a breakaway of his own. Shawn Thornton and Ference assisted.

Spezza (10th of the season) made the score a little more respectable with a goal at 15:55 but Thomas will probably never blow a three-goal lead in the third.

Paille got his second with 1:04 left, an absolute snipe over Anderson's shoulder from Bergeron.

The Bruins improved to 2-0 vs. Ottawa thus far this season with an aggregate score of 10-5 over their Northeast Division foe.

Not sure if they came home tonight or will wait until tomorrow morning to return but Boston should have a quiet couple days with some light practices before they travel to Philadelphia.

Saturday afternoon's game should be a treat as the top two teams (currently tied) in the Eastern Conference square off. As an added bonus, the Flyers are part of HBO's 24/7 with the Rangers that began airing tonight so you have to assume their cameras will be rolling for Saturday's huge matchup. It's the second of four meetings between the two powerhouses that could very likely see each other in the playoffs once again. Philly won the season opener 2-1 at TD Garden on Oct. 6.

UPDATE 12/15: McQuaid wasn't suspended for his kneeing incident, he was fined $2500 today by the NHL.

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