They didn't get the two points they sought to strengthen their hold on the Northeast Division lead. They didn't get a single shot past Senators rookie goalie Robin Lehner in a frustrating 1-0 loss. And defenseman Joe Corvo didn't even get his pound of flesh.
Corvo was upset by Ottawa forward Kyle Turris' cheap shot on him during the third period of Saturday's 5-3 victory in Ottawa. Turris left his feet and hit Corvo in the head along the boards, drawing a two-minute minor for boarding.
The league ruled the play not worthy of supplemental discipline, upsetting Corvo even more. After Monday's practice, he vowed to fight Turris in the rematch on Tuesday.
Though he backed off those comments at Tuesday's morning skate, he did ask Turris to drop the gloves at the first opportunity in the opening period. But Turris, and his Ottawa teammates, made it clear to Corvo that he wouldn't get his chance at direct payback.
"I asked him and he wasn't interested," said Corvo. "It ended right there."
Corvo said he asked Turris to go on their first shift together early in the first period, but Senator left wing Colin Greening interrupted the conversation with a quick refusal on his linemate's behalf.
"His teammates said he wasn't going to fight me," Corvo said. "So that was it. I wasn't going to be the idiot chasing him around.
"I said, 'Whenever you're ready,'" Corvo added of the challenge he issued. "And Greening said, 'He's not fighting.'"
While the league ruled Turris wasn't guilty of anything warranting more than the two-minute penalty he received on Saturday, he certainly was guilty of breaking hockey's code. He failed to answer for his questionable hit, even though he was hardly being challenged by the most intimidating player around. Corvo didn't have his first fight in the NHL until his ninth NHL season, taking on Toronto's Joey Crabb earlier this year. Turris, meanwhile, is a comparatively old hand at fisticuffs, with two career fights while playing parts of four seasons in the NHL.
Corvo, who said he had not been contacted by the league about the comments he made on Monday, did get to enjoy a little vicarious payback. Late in the second period, Milan Lucic steamrolled Turris with a hit in the Ottawa zone.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, that hit came on a delayed penalty call with Lucic already heading to the box for slashing Erik Karlsson, so any enjoyment about turning Turris from hitter into hittee was muted.
Still, that was about as good as it got for the Bruins, and Corvo in particular, in a frustrating night at the Garden.
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