Highlights from the Bruins' 2-1 win over the Senators

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FROM JOE HAGGERTY:

It’s great to see McAvoy in the lineup and with no restrictions after getting clobbered by Zach Hyman on Saturday night. McAvoy isn’t shying away from anything physically in the second night of a back-to-back game and is clearly playing aggressively as he did on the pinch that ended up opening things for an Ottawa goal. It may actually end up being the best thing for No. 73 as he took a big, heavy shot up high and was no worse the wear for it after missing a 20-game chunk with a concussion that he just returned from. 

It’s a reputation call for Brad Marchand as he threw his elbow up high to make some room on Maxim Lajoie while dangling with both hands on the stick toward the end of the first period. At the end of the day it’s an offensive zone penalty and those are never good especially when the Bruins were already on the penalty kill, but it was also something you might not see called against somebody else. That being said, Marchand needs to be better than that on the PK. And of course he made up for it later in the second period when he sniped home a one-timer for a power play goal to tie the game after the Senators didn’t score on their 5-on-3 PP at the end of the first.

Credit Sean Kuraly for standing in there against Ben Harpur after catching a high stick from the towering Ottawa defenseman. The two players dropped the gloves with Harpur getting his gloves off rather quickly (so quickly he got an instigator penalty for it) and Kuraly caught a big right-handed uppercut that looked like it might have broken his nose. That’s life as a fourth line center for Kuraly and some of the rough and tumble things that happen on the ice, but at least he didn’t back down to a bigger opponent. Things like that can build character and courage with a hockey team, and Kuraly was back and bloody on the bench after getting fixed up the B’s medical staff.

Tuukka Rask was solid throughout the game, but was really at his best in the third period of a tied game where one mistake would make the difference. He flashed a big glove save on Mark Stone at the end of a 2-on-1 odd-man rush after David Pastrnak couldn’t keep a puck in the offensive zone. The Bruins actually dominated play in the final 20 minutes so all Rask saw was a couple of great offensive chances, but he managed to stop those while keeping razor-sharp focus on the game. In all Rask stopped 27-of-28 shots on net in another excellent December game for him, and watched as the Bruins really started to pull away in the third period and OT before finally winning.

Torey Krug now has two goals in two games after not having any in the first 17 games of the season. Krug hammered away at a point shot for the goal in Saturday night’s win over the Maple Leafs, and then in overtime camped down at the net and waited for David Krejci to wheel around the back of the Sens net and float a pass across the front of the ice. Krug finished with points on each of Boston’s goals in the overtime victory and had five shots on net, seven shot attempts, three hits and a pair of blocked shots in 22:06 of ice time. The Bruins needed some skilled players still healthy to really get going offensively and Krug has done exactly that. 

HIGHLIGHTS

GREAT DEFENSE BY GRZELYCK

OH, SO CLOSE

STONE PUTS SENATORS AHEAD 1-0

KURALY AND HARPUR FIGHT

MARCHAND TIES IT UP 1-1

MARCHAND ALL OVER THE PLACE

HUGE SAVE BY RASK

KRUG FOR THE WIN

BRUINS RECORD: 16-10-4

BOX SCORE

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