The Bruins beat the Ottawa Senators 2-1 to move within striking distance of clinching the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins can now clinch the top spot with either a win on Saturday versus the New York Rangers or a loss by Washington Capitals tomorrow night against the Buffalo Sabres.
Ottawa got on the board first when the Bruins coughed up the puck in the neutral zone, creating an odd man rush for the Senators. Jason Spezza feed a pass to Daniel Alfredsson, who was trailing the play. Alfredsson fired a wrister from the slot that beat Tim Thomas for the early lead at 5:23 of the first period.
Milan Lucic tied it up at 1-1 2:27 in the second period when he pulled up at the top of the left circle and fired a slap shot that beat Alex Auld up top on the glove side. With 2:37 left in the second period, Jarkko Ruutu ran into Tim Thomas, causing a major pileup in front of the net. Shane Hnidy and Jesse Winchester broke free from the scrum and paired off before the officials jumped in to restore order before any punches could be thrown.
Marc Savard got the game winner 3:02 into the third period when P.J. Axelsson picked off Brandon Bell's clearing pass and found Savard in the slot.
Notes:
- Tim Thomas had 31 saves
- David Krejci received the 7th Player Award in ceremony before tonight's win.
- The Bruins won their 50th game of the season. The last time that the Bruins won 50 games was during the '92-'93 season when they finished with 51 wins.
- Patrice Bergeron played in his 300th NHL game.
- The Bruins were credited with 19 blocked shots, including 5 by Aaron Ward. Somehow Stephane Yell was not credited with a blocked shot for his sliding block on the penalty kill in the third period.