BSJ Game Report: Bruins 5, Senators 2 - B’s penalty kill, top-6 lift club to 5th straight win

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 5-2 win over the Senators in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

TOP TAKEAWAYS:

Sabourin exits with scary injury: Saturday’s matchup between the Bruins and Senators took a terrifying turn just minutes into the contest — as a seemingly pedestrian hit between David Backes and Ottawa winger Scott Sabourin led to the latter having to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. 

After both skaters collided, it appeared as though Sabourin immediately lost consciousness, with the forward colliding face-first with the ice. He did not move for several minutes.

https://twitter.com/Tucker_TnL/status/1190772555881308162

After over 10 minutes, Sabourin — bloodied from the fall — was taken off the ice, giving a brief thumbs-up. Both benches emptied as Sabourin was taken down the tunnel, with players sending well wishes to the Ottawa skater.

Backes, clearly shaken up and very emotional out on the ice, immediately headed down the tunnel once Sabourin was taken off the ice. He did not return for the rest of the night, with Boston listing the veteran forward as out due to an upper-body injury. Given his history, one has to be concerned about a possible concussion when it comes to Backes’ wellbeing.

It was a brutal, unlucky situation for all parties involved. Despite the severity of the fall, the Senators did offer some good news about Sabourin during the second period.

https://twitter.com/Media_Sens/status/1190783808255266816

Bruins finally wake up in the third: Emotions were heavy in this matchup, especially in wake of Sabourin’s injury. Add in the fact that Boston was coming off of three straight off days, and the rationale is there when it comes to the Bruins’ sluggish start in this matchup. 

Still, against a woeful Ottawa club that has yet to win a single game on the road this season, the Bruins struggled to put away this club for the first 40 minutes of play. Most of those struggles manifested in an inconsistent power play — with the B’s struggling to gain clean entries against Ottawa’s kill during a chippy second period.

But Boston managed to right the ship in the third — with the power play connecting once again at 6:50 in the stanza, and the B’s new-look second line of David Krejci, Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk taking care of the rest. 

It wasn’t a pretty game, but Boston once again tilted the ice in their favor on special teams, benefited from another dominant outing from its top line and received more secondary scoring from the likes of Heinen (1 goal, 1 assist) and DeBrusk (1 goal).

That’s a tried-and-true recipe for two points — with Boston now 7-0-2 over its last nine games, including five straight regulation wins. Wins are rarely pretty in this league, but Boston managed to do enough to keep this club rolling into next week.

THREE UP

Penalty kill: Sure, we wax poetic quite a bit about Boston’s power play, but perhaps we should spend some time focusing on this penalty kill. With Peter Cehlarik already in the box serving a too-many-men penalty, Brad Marchand put his club in a brutal spot by earning a minor for hooking and a double minor for spearing at the same time. With PK regulars like Par Lindholm and Joakim Nordstrom already out, props to players like Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork for stepping in during what was a colossal, six-plus-minute kill that changed the complexion of the game. With Zdeno Chara leading the way per usual with 6:20 of shorthanded TOI, Boston's PK went a perfect 5-for-5 on the night. 

Patrice Bergeron: Another regular night for the Bruins’ top line (three goals, seven points), but we’ll give the stick tap for Bergeron tonight, who recorded his 500th career assist while also logging 5:22 of ice time on the penalty kill — tops among all Bruins forwards. 

Bergeron is now just the sixth player to record 500 or more assists in a Bruins’ sweater, joining some pretty elite company:

Ray Bourque - 1,111 assists
John Bucyk - 794 assists
Bobby Orr - 624 assists
Phil Esposito - 553 assists
Wayne Cashman - 516 assists
Patrice Bergeron - 500 assists

Danton Heinen: It looks like Heinen is settling in just fine in his new role next to Krejci, as the winger posted a two-point night while once again showcasing his trademark defensive skills. His tally in the opening minutes of the third was a thing of beauty — starting with a great play in the neutral zone to recover the puck and feed it towards Ottawa’s end of the ice. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1190803075746992128

TWO DOWN

Brad Marchand: He might have finished with two points on the night, but even against a team like the Senators, Marchand can’t put his team in the hole by taking six minutes worth of penalties in one sitting. Against a team like the Lightning or Maple Leafs, six minutes of power-play TOI could be enough to put a game out of reach. Marchand owes the B’s PK a few cold ones after tonight. 

Peter Cehlarik: Pretty quiet night for the call-up, who only logged 10:33 of ice time. When slotted next to Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork, Cehlarik and the Bruins were out-attempted, 4-1, in 3:49 of 5v5 TOI. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

For the second time this year, Torey Krug used the Garden end boards to set up a tally for Pastrnak. Fantastic awareness from the Bruins defenseman. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1190771256209137667

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1081007213571903489

PARTING THOUGHT

A classy end to a downright awful situation. Good to see both teams take to the ice to send off Sabourin before he was stretchered off. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1190773824171720704

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will continue their latest three-in-four stretch on Monday, with the B’s set to take on the Penguins on Monday night. Despite dealing with a slew of injuries out of the gate, Sidney Crosby’s crew hasn’t let up, with the Pens opening the year with an 8-5-1 record.