Milan Lucic and the B’s came back to beat Ottawa Thursday night.
If the Bruins end up winning the Northeast Division or even just securing home ice (4th seed) in the playoffs this spring, we will look back fondly at Thursday’s 2-1 win against the Senators (16-9-6) at Scotiabank Place. Boston (20-6-3) rallied for the thrilling victory and snapped a two-game losing streak in the process; it was also the third time (in 3 games) that they’ve beaten Ottawa this season. Each time has been by one goal including an overtime win and shootout win.
Some unsung heroes for the B’s stepped up in the victory with Daniel Paille and Dennis Seidenberg providing the goals while backup goaltender Anton Khudobin (6-2-0) made 27 saves for the win. Rich Peverley was a healthy scratch for the first time in his Bruins career while David Krejci surprisingly returned after only missing one game (he took a puck off his knee on Sunday). Ryan Spooner was in Peverley’s spot as the third line center.
Kaspars Daugavins (great name) roofed a wrist shot over Khudobin’s glove 4:55 into the second period but Paille tied it with a huge goal that Robin Lehner (27 saves) would like back. It was Paille’s sixth goal of the season with 1:22 left in the frame, from Johnny Boychuk and Gregory Campbell. It seemed headed to overtime for the third time between these teams but Seidenberg rescued the banged up Bruins. His first goal of the season was extremely timely, a slap shot from the point with 1:04 left in regulation, assists going to Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron.
Boston will end its week long road trip (4 games, 3 in Canada) on Saturday night (7 p.m., NESN) against the Maple Leafs (16-12-3), another Canadian divisional foe that they own (2-0-0) this season.
Follow Metro Boston Bruins beat writer Richard Slate on Twitter: @RichSlate
