BOSTON – The Bruins should have their heads held high because they battled valiantly before falling to the Senators in Game 6.
Ultimately the B’s couldn’t pull off any more overtime magic and a Clarke MacArthur power play goal 6:30 into overtime gave Ottawa a 3-2 win in the extra session at TD Garden, and handed the Senators a 4-2 win in the best-of-seven playoff series to advance to a second round match-up with the New York Rangers. A David Pastrnak holding call after hauling down MacArthur set up the OT power play for Ottawa and ultimately became Boston’s undoing.
The Bruins struck first in the opening period after killing off three different delay of game penalties for B’s players flinging the puck over the glass into the stands, and then scored on their first power play of the first. Drew Stafford played a two-man game with Brad Marchand at the high point and then smoked a one-timer under the bar from the right circle to get things going.
Ottawa stormed back in the second period with two goals of their own: Bobby Ryan tipped home a Derick Brassard point blast on the power play for his fourth goal of the series, and Kyle Turris snapped one home from the high slot after a turnover deep in Boston’s zone by Stafford. The PP goal was particularly frustrating as it came on a leg check call on Charlie McAvoy after two B’s players had been taken out (Colin Miller, David Krejci) on uncalled Ottawa leg checks earlier in the series.
The B’s tied it up in the third period on a bad line change from the Sens with Boston’s best offensive players on the ice. Colin Miller worked it up quickly to Marchand, who fired one at the net that Craig Anderson stopped initially before not being able to hold back Patrice Bergeron crashing the net for the rebound score.