For the second-last time this season, the Boston Bruins (24-20-6) battled the Ottawa Senators (24-20-4) in a pivotal divisional matchup that may have large playoff implications later down the line. Boston pulled through, securing a nail-biting 2-0 win on the back of Joonas Korpisalo’s 29-save shutout – his third of the season – to earn two points in regulation.
Given the two teams played just under a week ago in a hard-hitting, playoff-type game, it was no surprise that the opening frame of this game was quite close – a preview of what would be the full 60-minute game. For the first half of the period, Boston controlled play, generating most of the scoring chances and outshooting the Senators 8-2 at one point in the frame. However, Ottawa answered back in the second half, largely fuelled by two power plays that came up short, eventually ending the period with an 11-7 shot advantage over Boston.
Following the scoreless first period, it was not too long into the second period to see the game’s first goal – the eventual game-winner scored by Morgan Geekie. The goal was driven by David Pastrnak, who initiated the sequence by skating the puck along the boards from the point down to the goal area. He fed a pass attempt through the crease that was unable to find a Bruin, allowing Brandon Carlo to recover the loose puck off the end boards. Carlo dished it back to Pastrnak behind Senators’ goalie Anton Forsberg’s net, who came back around the side of the cage, finding Geekie on the opposite side for the tip-in goal.
Geekie’s goal was his 13th of the season assisted by Pastrnak (33rd assist of the season) and Carlo (sixth of the season).
Later in the period, Geekie continued to be all over the ice, landing a heavy hit on an already-falling Thomas Chabot. Chabot, unhappy at the collision, retaliated with a cross-check to Geekie that subsequently resulted in a minor penalty. Boston’s power play looked decent, getting a few looks, but the Senators’ penalty kill and Forsberg stood strong to keep it a one-goal game.
In the final regulation period, Ottawa had a few golden opportunities to tie the game, including a prematurely blown whistle that otherwise would have led to a Tim Stützle goal. The officials thought Korpisalo had frozen the puck, but instead it was loose behind him. As the whistle sounded before the puck crossed the goal line, the call remained no goal.
Ottawa also had a brief 5-on-3 power play on the backs of a Nikita Zadorov tripping penalty and a Patrick Brown delay-of-game penalty, but again, Boston’s penalty kill was excellent, keeping the game tied and getting it back to even-strength. Boston would get a few good looks of their own in the later minutes, including a Brad Marchand drive to the net and a Pavel Zacha one-timer that Forsberg stood strong on.
With the goaltender pulled, Boston blocked a ton of shots and cleared the puck for icings several times, eventually having Pastrnak pick off a blue line pass to bury the empty-net goal and secure Boston’s 2-0 win. Pastrnak continues his hot January with the two-point night as he is now up to 11 goals and 19 points in 11 games this month.
Looking ahead on the schedule, Boston will be the hosts once again as they play the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday (Jan. 25) in a 1 pm matinee game. Ottawa will be back home on Saturday as well, as they will welcome their provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Saturday night contest.
