If the Boston Bruins do end up making the Stanley Cup playoffs this spring, a postseason date against the Ottawa Senators might prove to be something they’d like to avoid based on the way they’ve played in Ottawa this season.
The B’s are now 0-for-2 in Ottawa and haven’t played particularly well in either game, falling victim to the Sens' speed and skill again in a 5-3 defeat at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night. The somewhat good news is that they won’t play there again during the regular season.
It wasn’t a soul-crushing blowout defeat like the last time the B’s visited Ottawa a few weeks ago, but this one might have been more frustrating as the Bruins were poised to at least pick an OT point before completely falling apart in the last six minutes of regulation.
“It is disappointing. Guys came back and that’s exactly what we wanted,” said Marco Sturm. “Unfortunately, those individual, or fixable, mistakes cost us the game tonight. We came a little slow out of the gate and we should have learned our lesson last time, but we did battle back.
“We played our game [after the first period]. No excuses. I just don’t think we deserved to come out with a win today because there were too many mistakes. There was a lack of concentration and sticking with what they’re doing, so those little mistakes [will cost you]. Unfortunately, we gave too many pizzas away today.”
The fatal “pizzas” appeared to be more mental mistakes than physical in a couple of instances that ultimately undid a nice Boston comeback attempt after a poor opening 20 minutes to the game. Down 2-0 after the first period, the Bruins stormed back with a strong middle stanza spearheaded by Mark Kastelic’s physical, energetic performance that opened the door for him to score the tying goal in the third.
Kastelic opened the second period by rocking Nick Jensen along the end boards on the opening shift of the second period, and then scored a second effort rebound goal five minutes into the third period to even things up.
Kastelic ties it 3-3 pic.twitter.com/sZ1oZFf3Si
— Mr. Tenkrat (@PeterTenkrat) November 14, 2025
The Kastelic goal punctuated a nice B’s push of two goals in 1:26 immediately following a poor line change that opened the door for a Shane Pinto goal little more than a minute into the third period. The Bruins answered with goals from David Pastrnak and Kastelic and appeared headed straight for overtime with a tie score and six minutes remaining in regulation.
But it was at that point that Hampus Lindholm made a critical error rushing a pass up the boards to Sean Kuraly after holding the puck behind the net while waiting for both sides to change up players. There was zero forecheck or pressure on Lindholm when he handcuffed Kuraly with an unexpected pass, and things devolved quickly from there into Tim Stutzle scoring his first of two goals in the closing minutes of the game.
Tim Stutzle - Ottawa Senators (9) pic.twitter.com/OYX3uMdZcy
— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) November 14, 2025
It was a shame that the Bruins tossed away a point they had earned through clawing back into the game, but it was also a fate they richly deserved after making massive, self-inflicted errors against a Senators club talented enough to capitalize on those kinds of gaffes.
“On that last goal, the team, myself included, needs to do a better job of making a smarter play,” said Lindholm. “The whole game we had a lot of ‘fight back’ and the goals they got we kind of let in on ourselves.
“If we can tighten that up, I think we are playing some good hockey right now. You can’t get too low after a game like this, but it’s frustrating because it’s a game that we should have won, or at least had a point. It’s something that we need to learn from.”
The good news is that the Bruins were, in no way, shape or form, outclassed by the Senators in a road tilt where it was a mismatch the last time around. Instead, it looked more like a fatigued hockey team making mental errors against a quality team capable of taking advantage, and there are going to be nights like that during the 82-game regular season grind.
It will also undoubtedly be looked at as the B’s tossing away a point, something they did multiple times in a number of one-goal losses during their six-game losing streak at the beginning of the season.
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot, it felt like,” said Morgan Geekie, who scored his 12th goal of the season in the defeat. “It’s just happened too many times this year to be okay with it. I loved the way we battled back in the third. We didn’t start very well, but I thought we got better and better as the game as going along.
“It’s always tough to see those ones slip away. Marco kind of came in [after the first period] and told it like it was, and that we were getting away from our game. But in the second period, I thought we got back to [our game].”
As with so many other instances this season, the Bruins responded and fought back when adversity hit them in Ottawa. Unfortunately for them, sometimes that isn’t enough and it led to another close, disappointing loss for the Black and Gold in a game where things could have been much different.
Many casual Bruins followers have called this B’s team streaky because they have already had lengthy winning and losing streaks early in this season, so factually it is difficult to argue with that label. But the Bruins will be able to, at least partially, put that notion to bed if they can put together a winning effort this weekend against a surprising Montreal Canadiens team sitting atop the Atlantic Division standings right now.