Bruins Show What They’re Made of Against Senators

BOSTON — It’s come into question more and more frequently over the past number of weeks whether or not the Boston Bruins have what it takes to make the playoffs.

That answer remains to be seen over the long term. But at least for one game, the Bruins showed they do by grinding out a stingy 2-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday at TD Garden.

“Our compete was excellent, and that’s the thing that we’re really focusing on,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said. “We knew this was going to be a competitive, hard-fought game. I really thought our guys did a good job responding tonight.”

Joonas Korpisalo was steady in his crease all night long, making 30 saves to capture his third shutout of the season while providing a reassuring presence behind a depleted Bruins defense when it needed it most.

“You just got to play the game and take care of the fundamentals,” said Korpisalo. “You have to see the puck and just enjoy the moment. Those are the times that you enjoy, and you’re supposed to thrive.”

Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak continued their recent hot streaks for Boston when they combined to break a scoreless tie early in the second period.

As Pastrnak worked the puck down low, drawing the attention of Ottawa’s defense, he slid a short pass across the crease that Geekie deflected past Senators goalie Anton Forsberg for his 13th goal of the season.

With the assist, Pastrnak has points in each of his last six games, with a total of 13, while Geekie has four goals over that span.

“We’re just going out there and playing,” Geekie said. “At least for me, it’s a lot less thinking, just and playing. We’re all creatures of habit. We like to do the same things all the time, and you get to learn where those guys are all the time and the tendencies they have. We think we can produce and help the team, and that’s something that we’re trying to take a lot of pride in as a line.”

The first line producing has been the one constant for the Bruins lately. Their defense, on the other hand, has been anything but.

It was only 24 hours ago that the Bruins were dog-walked by the New Jersey Devils, giving up three goals on the penalty kill alone. Against Ottawa, they were the ones holding the leash.

Boston’s shorthanded unit was perfect in its four opportunities, including killing a brief five-on-three situation, while Ottawa threatened to tie the game in the third period.

When the Senators pulled Forsberg with a little over two minutes left to go, the Bruins were reminded of their late-game collapse against Ottawa last weekend with an extra attacker on the ice.

On Thursday, though, the Bruins held firm, as Pastrnak hit the empty net for his 23rd goal of the year with five seconds left to play.

“It’s gratifying,” said Sacco. “Our guys really dug in there at the end. We had better execution as far as what we wanted to do tonight and their opportunities.”

Boston improved its record to 24-20-6 with the win and climbed back into third place in the Atlantic Divison for the time being.

That is, however, a very precarious position–one that the Bruins haven’t been able to hold onto over the last number of weeks.

But at least for one game, they showed that they can if they choose to.

“This group has responded a lot this year,” Sacco said. ” We’ve had some games where it hasn’t gone our way, and we didn’t have our best game and came back home the next day and played a really good game. I’m not overly concerned with our response. I think this group has a lot of character in that way. When we play the type of hockey that we did tonight, we’ve shown that it’s successful, and it works for us.”