Sens Lose to Bruins in Extra Time

With fresh legs and back at home, the Ottawa Senators welcomed a Bruins team coming off a loss to the Hurricanes just last night. If there was an opportunity for this team to pull off a win against one of the best in the league, the situation seemed like as good a chance as any.

The Sens started off with what one could deem a pretty dominant opening period on the shot clock. With multiple chances on the powerplay and nothing to show for it, Boston frustratingly ended up being the team to open the scoring with a late first period powerplay marker. The shots were 9-3 for Ottawa at the time.

In the second period, the ice tilted in the other direction. The Sens found themselves going over 16 minutes without a shot on net. Meanwhile, the Bruins were back in the box and a very good scoring chance for Thomas Chabot turned into an opportunity for the Bruins to turn their lead into a pair. A series of events to which we are sadly accustomed.

Finally, late in the middle frame, the referees gave Ottawa their umpteenth powerplay of the game and Chabot was the one who finally delivered. The veteran rearguard slammed home the finishing touch to a beautiful passing play, starting out at the blueline.

Following the goal, chaos ensued when Tyler Wotherspoon crosschecked Chabot, causing every player on the ice to grab a partner and have a conversation.

Nonetheless, Ottawa headed into the final period down by just a goal.

With just over six minutes left in the game, still down a goal, the Senators believed they had tied things up on a Josh Norris tally. Unfortunately, Mathieu Joseph had touched the puck with his glove right before it found Norris' stick, negating the goal because of a hand pass, and leaving the game at 2-1.

About two minutes later, the Senators got what felt like their final chance to even things up with another powerplay, their sixth of the game.

And, it was on this powerplay, that Vladimir Tarasenko did this:

A work of art.

Tarasenko's goal got Ottawa to overtime, ensuring they'd get points in five games straight.

With a very entertaining extra frame came the heartache and pain of a Brad Marchand game winner, cleanly beating Joonas Korpisalo one on one.

Game Notes

• Say what you will about Ottawa's powerplay (and you can say a lot) but as much as it was painful to watch, you can just as easily attribute their lack of powerplay success to the masterclass the Boston Bruins put on tonight on the penalty kill. They gave Ottawa absolutely no space or time, broke up plays and kept them to the outside. Textbook. Also, despite all the frustration the Sens did tally twice with the man advantage.
• Thomas Chabot's powerplay marker was just his second of the season and first on the powerplay.
• There was a lot to like about Ottawa's third period effort tonight. They dictated the play and finally cashed in on the powerplay to force overtime. Now on a five game point streak, the Sens are 4-1-1 in their last six.
• Tim Stützle has 11 points in his last seven games played.
• Whatever a goalie coach does, I hope there's something in the works to help Joonas Korpisalo face shots from far out. It appears, at this point, the goaltender may struggle with tracking pucks. While both shots were good, the two Korpisalo let in during regulation were from distance.
• Over the course of the game, the Senators played in the way Steve Staios described the team in his press conference today; encouraging signs. The two things that have changed of late include staying in games and bouncing back from adversity. This same team playing in November would've lost 2-0 or worse, I'd bet.

Game Flow

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