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It was a tough start and finish for Boston, but they had enough meat in the middle to finish off the win in Ottawa, 5-3. Boston did get one chance with immediate pressure, but did nothing with it except give up pressure themselves. Erik Karlsson took advantage, surprising Tim Thomas just 1:10 into the game. Disappointing, to be sure, but at least Boston didn’t have to wait long to lift their spirits, as Patrice Bergeron put in the tying goal at 3:46.

Boston also took the lead in the period as well, thanks to Brad Marchand. Fancy footwork and passing all over the ice led to the goal from near the blue line. Ottawa had a few chances before the first intermission to tie the game, but couldn’t get it past Thomas, who aggressively came out of his crease to deal with the plays.

The Bruins kept up the pressure, limiting Ottawa greatly during the 2nd Period to just six shots on goal. They even extended their lead early on with a shot by rookie Carter Camper that was nearly parallel to the plane of the goal.

The final 20 minutes were when things really started to get ugly. About three minutes into the period, Ottawa’s Chris Neil delivered a huge hit straight into Johnny Boychuk, knocking both players down for a time and forcing Boychuk out of the game. It was a fair hit, but Zdeno Chara was hovering over Neil’s body looking for vengeance in case he got up immediately.

Two minutes after that, Joe Corvo was blasted into the boards by Kyle Turris. Turris lept into the air and led with his elbow, which should lead to a suspension. At least Corvo stayed in the game.

Coming up on the end of the game, with Boston leading 4-1, we all thought it was over, but Ottawa didn’t agree. At 16:15, Daniel Alfredsson rocketed a shot to make it 4-2, then did it again at 17:52 to pull Ottawa within one and leading to a very tense situation for Boston, who had already used their timeout minutes earlier.

However, they were able to hold on long enough for Ottawa to leave their net empty to get an extra skater, and Bergeron mercifully ended Ottawa’s comeback with 19 seconds left from his own blue line.

Game Notes:

• Boston is now 19-2-0 this season when leading at the 1st Intermission.
• They’re also 28-0-0 this season when leading by multiple goals at any point during a game.
• Gregory Campbell played in his 500th career game.
• Shawn Thornton was out with the flu.

JERRY!! JERRY!! Moment of the Game:

Chara finally got his chance at beating down Neil with seven minutes remaining, and while he threw some powerful shots, was too overzealous, losing his balance and falling down.

Scoring Summary:

Penalty Summary:

Goalie Stats:

Shots on Goal:

Tags: Adam McQuaid, Brad Marchand, Bruins, Carter Camper, Dennis Seidenberg, Gregory Campbell, Joe Corvo, Johnny Boychuk, Milan Lucic, Ottawa Senators, Patrice Bergeron, Shawn Thornton, Tim Thomas, Tyler Seguin, Zdeno Chara