The Bruins saw their six-game win streak snapped Tuesday night in Ottawa when they fell 3-2 to the Senators.
The Senators were the first to find the back of the net 4:23 into the game when Jesse Winchester carried the puck in deep on the left wing and found Christoph Schubert in the slot. Schubert then blasted a slap shot that deflected off the stick of Steve Montador and past Manny Fernandez for the early Ottawa lead. The Sens increased their lead to 2-0 just over six minutes later with Ottawa on the penalty kill when Mike Fisher beat Zdeno Chara in a foot race to the puck.
Phil Kessel cut Ottawa's lead in half 3:00 into the second period. Marc Savard gained possession of the puck behind the Ottawa goal and fed a pass out front to Phil Kessel. Kessel had his first bid stopped by Alex Auld but was able to gather his own rebound and put the puck past Auld for his 32nd goal of the season. Dany Heatley made it 3-1 when his one-timer from the top of the right circle beat Fernandez for the power play goal with 6:03 left in the middle frame. The Bruins got back to with in one thanks to Zdeno Chara's power play drive with 9 seconds left in the second period.
With the Bruins down by a goal late in the third period, Milan Lucic was whistled for goaltender interference with 1:03 left in regulation turning their uphill battle into a leisurely hike up Mount Everest.
Notes:
- The Senators set a franchise record for most consecutive home wins with 9.
- Marc Savard factored into both Bruins goals with 2 assists.
- The Bruins were out-hit 29-18.
- The Bruins now look like the dark horse in the race for the President's Trophy, but that doesn't seem to concern Claude Julien much because he knows that their is a much bigger prize that the Bruins have their eyes on.
"We're certainly not going to put all our eggs in one basket and push for that. If it doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world. We want to focus on something that's much bigger than that. Hopefully we can go out and push for a bigger prize."
- Andrew Ference (undisclosed injury) will be put on the shelf for the remainder of the regular season.
- The Bruins looked like a team just going through the motions tonight. This game really meant nothing. I think if the B's were still fighting for a playoff spot, they would have played some of the players that got the night off. Yes, the President's Trophy would be nice but it is more important that the team is healthy and ready to play in the playoffs.