Bruins gut out tough, 2-0 win against Senators

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Jan 23, 2025

Published in Hockey

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BOSTON — The Bruins may not be the most talented bunch and the direction of the organization is still very much up in the air.

But whether the “blow-it-up” portion of the fan base likes it or not, the players are not abut to lay own on the season.

Former Senator Joonas Korpisalo (30 saves) pitched a timely shutout, Morgan Geekie scored in the second period and David Pastrnak scored an empty-netter with 4.4 seconds left for a 2-0 win over the Sens at TD Garden on Thursday, a big four-point game swing for the B’s over one of the many teams with whom they’re battling for a playoff spot.

Neither team was at full strength. While the B’s were without Jeremy Swayman, Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, the Sens were missing Josh Norris (one of the heroes of the Sens’ comeback win in Ottawa last Saturday), Jake Sanderson and Linus Ullmark.

But the two points were still on the table.

The Bruins played pretty well in a scoreless first period, especially early on when they had several high danger chances but could not get one past Anton Forsberg. Pavel Zacha came the closest, hitting the shortside post before Forsberg fell back on the puck.

The game saw the return of Trent Frederic, back from a brief illness, while there were also a couple of lineup changes as Michael Callahan went in for Jordan Oesterle and Patrick Brown got in the lineup for Justin Brazeau.

The B’s thwarted their own momentum by taking two penalties late in the period but they did a good job of killing them off.

The top line of Pastrnak, Geekie and Zacha has been the B’s bright spot on most nights and it was this trio that gave the B’s the first lead of the game at 2:06 of the second period.

On a solid, grinding shift, Pastrnak came out from behind the net and made a slick cross-crease pass to Geekie for a tap-in, Geekie’s 13th of the season.

The B’s, run out of the rink in the second period in New Jersey on Wednesday, was much better in the middle period on Thursday, holding a 12-7 shot advantage. But they could not capitalize on their lone power play and had to settle for the slim one-goal lead going into the third.

After they couldn’t cash in a power play, Nikita Zadorov went to the box for tripping Brady Tkachuk and the B’s benefitted from a quick whistle. Claude Giroux’s shot broke through Korpisalo’s pads and Tim Stutzle swooped in to knock it home, but play was ruled dead.

They weren’t so lucky when, still on the kill, Brown chipped the puck over the glass, giving the Sens a 32-second 5-on-3. But the B’s dug deep and got kill.