On Thursday night, the Boston Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 thanks to a goal by Brad Marchand at 1:48 of the overtime period.
Marchand’s 396th goal, his fifth in four games, put him in fifth place all-time with the Bruins, surpassing Ray Bourque.
According to the 35-year-old Marchand, “it’s special.” It’s unique, but I try not to think about it too much. I never imagined that my career would progress as far as it has and that certain events would have occurred.
“Being a part of a group that’s had a lot of success and a lot of phenomenal guys to learn from has been extremely fortunate for me.”
Marchand’s 19th overtime goal in his career tied him with Jaromir Jagr for the third-most in NHL history, behind Sidney Crosby’s 20 and Alex Ovechkin’s 26.
The Bruins, who lead both the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division, also had goals from David Pastrnak and Trent Frederic. Trent Swayman made 35 saves.
“I believe the most important thing is completing a game that at times seemed like an uphill struggle,” Swayman remarked. “And huge congratulations to (Marchand) passing some pretty great names. It’s really special to get a back-to-back and finish it in overtime.” Thus, it was an incredibly satisfying victory for us.
The Senators’ goals came from Vladimir Tarasenko and Thomas Chabot. Korpisalo Joonas made 20 saves.
At 13:18 in the third, Josh Norris believed he had tied the game, but Ottawa was still behind 2-1. However, officials found that there was a hand pass involved.
Tarasenko’s power-play goal at 16:42 gave the Senators a chance to knot the score at two all. Swayman was beaten.
Boston, ahead 1-0 at the end of the first frame, increased their lead at 8:19 in the second when Frederic beat Korpisalo high to the blocker side. With a late power play goal, the Senators narrowed the advantage to one.
After receiving a backhand feed from Drake Batherson, Chabot scored his second goal of the year by putting a shot past Swayman.
Tarasenko claimed that Batherson completed 99 percent of the work. “He created an excellent screen, preventing the goalie from seeing and leaving the corner open.”
After the goal, there was a scrum behind the net. Charlie McAvoy punched Chabot, which led to more players getting into the scrum and resulting in roughing penalties for Tim Stuzle, McAvoy, and Wotherspoon, as well as an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for Batherson.
The difference in power plays didn’t particularly impress Bruins coach Jim Montgomery.
Montgomery remarked, “I don’t think we dodged a bullet; I think we took about eight bullets.” “We had one power play, they had six.” That is biased.
Despite being outplayed for the most of the first half, the Bruins led by one goal at the halfway point.
At 18:36 in the first, Ottawa had two power play opportunities but was unable to convert any of them, while Boston scored three seconds into its power play. On the third shot of the game, Pastrnak beat Korpisalo from just inside the blue line.
Shane Pinto, a forward with the Senators, made his home debut following a 41-game gambling suspension. Pinto made a comeback to the field on Sunday, winning at Philadelphia and picking up a point.