OTTAWA — A night after offensive fireworks, the Bruins found themselves back in a more familiar environment playing in a tight affair.
For the seventh time this season, they needed more than three periods to get a result.
Torey Krug scored with 1:53 left in overtime to send the Bruins to consecutive wins, taking a 2-1 victory against the Senators to sweep the weekend.
Krug took a pass right along the goal line from David Krejci and had an open near side of the net to score his second goal of the season and second in as many games.
“A highly, highly skilled player making a great pass. That’s his specialty,” Krug said of Krejci. “He sees things that other guys can’t see, even up from the pressbox. He made a great play, and I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of it.”
It was the first time the Bruins have allowed two goals or less since Nov. 23 against Pittsburgh, a 2-1 overtime win. It was their 13th one-goal game out of 30 this season.
Early in the overtime, Sean Kuraly had a chance to ice the game before a diving stop by Senators goalie Mike McKenna, who finished with 42 saves, kept the frame going.
Ottawa struck first, and the Bruins tied it in the second, but even with six power plays between the two teams, there were lulls in the action leading to overtime.
It was a testament to the Bruins defense stepping up against an Ottawa club that has racked up the sixth-most goals in the NHL.
“Tonight was a game we stayed patient and eventually got things to go our way,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I thought we were the better team the last 40, 43 minutes whatever it was, and eventually we got rewarded.”
Mark Stone opened the Senators scoring with 12:51 left in the first. Charlie McAvoy pinched deep in the Bruins offensive zone, leaving Matt Grzelcyk on his own with Ryan Donato trailing, which gave Colin White plenty of room to connect with Stone for the 1-0 Ottawa lead.
A Chris Wagner cross-check and Brad Marchand elbow put the Bruins down two players at the end of the first period and heading into the second. The Bruins killed both penalties and earned a power play of their own early in the second.
Kuraly fought Ben Harpur, and while the Bruins forward needed extra attention and headed down the tunnel, the Senators defenseman was charged with an instigator and 10-minute misconduct. Kuraly returned to the game just before the third period.
Marchand picked up a rebound along the goal line under the right circle and potted his eighth goal of the season to tie it 1-1 with 12:11 to go in the middle frame.
Maxime Lajoie went off for tripping in the third, but David Pastrnak took an interference call 44 seconds into the power play to negate the Bruins advantage. Pastrnak had a breakaway out of the box but lost control of the puck.
After starting the game as a pair, Grzelcyk and McAvoy were separated late in the first. Grzelcyk was matched with Brandon Carlo and McAvoy was with Krug for the remainder of the game.
Marchand finished the game with a season-high nine shots. He had six against Tampa Bay on Thursday before being held to a single shot on Saturday against Toronto.
Tuukka Rask finished the night with 27 saves. He started after Jaroslav Halak got the first game of the back-to-back. The Bruins had just 18 hours between games, including their travel to Ottawa.
While it might have taken a little while to find their legs with the quick turnaround, the Bruins ended their five-game stretch against division opponents with consecutive wins after losing the first three.
“It was an emotional win last night, an emotional game in Tampa. I thought we played well,” Cassidy said. “Florida, clearly not our best. We moved on, fixed some things.”
