Boston vs. Senators 4/6/17 RECAP: Senators sweep.

This sucked.

First Period:

The Bruins got off to a hot start as they managed to basically hem the Senators into their own end for a vast majority of the period, finally cashing in on the Power Play as Drew Stafford got himself a very slick wraparound goal from a smart play by Zdeno Chara. 1-0!

Drew Stafford is the epitome of a “still got it” player. Great move by Chara as well.

It wasn’t all great, Torey Krug left the game after his third shift on a weird move that tweaked his leg I guess? Never the less, Boston finished the period with a nice SOG total and the score in their favor. What could go wrong?

Second Period, where things went wrong:

The Senators’ brutal 1-3-1 came to roost as the Bruins got caught in a miserable cycle of attempting to get a goal but not pressing the issue as well as they could have. Things went extremely backwards as the Bruins began taking all sorts of dumb penalties and got stuck in a cycle of icings that inevitably allowed Alex “Oh christ it’s this asshole again” Burrows to tie the game. 1-1

Miserable shift all around from a turnover all the way in the offensive zone. What the hell?

The Bruins got caught in this ruthless cycle, definitely showed their physicality on Ottawa! But nothing came of it. And then the period ended and the third began some time later.

Third Period:

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...Okay so stuff happened but it might as well have been nothing. The Bruins were outshot, outchanced, nothing fun or interesting happened, the only thing either side was able to accomplish was make me hate the way the Senators play hockey and their players. Next.

Overtime and the Shootout:

No Krug, so Liles had to fill in. Neither side was interested in getting the goal in this 3 on 3 setup so onto the shootout where Kyle Turris got the game winner in the first round of the shootout. Bruins lose 2-1 as Drew Stafford, Ryan Spooner, and David Pastrnak couldn’t get past Craig Anderson

Game Notes:

• Your leaders in possession from last night’s game were: Frank Vatrano, Patrice Bergeron, David Backes, Matt Beleskey, and John-Michael Liles. Torey Krug was also there but only played less than 3 minutes total.
• Losing Torey Krug was arguably a worse problem for Boston than Marchand as the Bruins had real trouble after the first of getting out of their own end, putting them in plenty of chances for Ottawa to ruin the “fun” of the game. This was especially a real problem for the defensemen.
• Rask finished his night with a .929 SV%. Minus that one Burrows goal, he was pretty sharp tonight. Anderson in spite of his style was playing pretty darn well too.
• The Bruins will almost certainly make the playoffs and play the Ottawa Senators and I’d very much like to not watch that.
• For a game with almost 50 shots in it, this was an intolerably slow game.
• I know he scored but why Drew Stafford to start the shootout? Such an odd choice with Spooner, Vatrano, Bergeron right there.
• The point I’m trying to make here is that 1-3-1 is awful.

Their final game of the season is against Washington on Saturday at TD Garden. Puck drop is at 3pm. Don’t expect too many players that are regulars from Washington.

One more!