Bruce Cassidy’s 200th win as head coach of the Boston Bruins came in a 100% capacity TD Garden. The Bruins won 3-2 against the Ottawa Senators, who’ve been depleted by COVID.
The win extended Boston’s undefeated home start to the season while Ottawa still has one road win. The Senators definitely weren’t at full strength for this game, though. Four AHL players suited up: D Erik Brannstrom, RW Scott Sabourin, LW Egor Sokolov and G Filip Gustavsson got called up to back up Matt Murray.
Murray, the 27-year-old on his second NHL team, stopped 33-of-36 shots in the loss. He started his second-consecutive game and remains winless with a .897 save percentage and 3.10 GAA.
Jeremy Swayman, in his fifth start, put up a .926 save percentage by saving 25-of-27 shots. With his win, he moved to 3-2 on the year and looks to be gaining confidence.
Zach Sanford scored the first goal, ending the scoreless tie just 1:14 into the period. Sanford’s first goal of the season came from a Brady Tkachuk one-time pass as he fell down. No one else scored a goal in that period, but a lot of shots came along the way. Boston outshot Ottawa 14-11 that period.
The second period, the busiest period of play, featured the other four goals of the game. First came Brad Marchand, who knocked in his only power play goal of the season. David Pastrnak threw a wrist shot from just behind the hash marks that hit Marchand and went in the net. Then, Derek Forbort scored a goal five minutes after that, assisted by Charlie Coyle and Taylor Hall. Yet another Ottawa player scored his first goal, though. Nikita Zaitsev beat Swayman with a shot from the boards that went under his blocker, tying it at 2s.
Luckily for the Bruins, they have Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron started off the year with three points and no goals, but has gotten on a hot streak lately. The 2003 second-round pick accumulated six points and five goals in his past three games and ranks second on the team in points. One of those goals came as the game-winning goal against the Sens and earned him the first star.
Pastrnak also had a notable performance with two assists, one on the power play and one on the game-winning goal. Charlie McAvoy had two assists as well, but he added five hits, two takeaways and one blocked shot.
Playing it close with a COVID-ridden Senators team isn’t an ideal scenario, but a win is a win. The Bruins will play their next game on Thursday versus the Edmonton Oilers. Boston will try to continue their home-ice advantage and advance to 6-0 at TD Garden. Bergeron and Co. will face-off against McDavid and Co. at 7:00 pm on November 11.