BOSTON — The Boston Bruins have just two wins in their last nine games, but unlike in many of their recent defeats, they were able to secure a point from Saturday afternoon’s matchup with the Ottawa Senators.
The Bruins had a 16-7 shots-on-goal advantage in the third period and overtime, including a 3-on-1 scoring chance in the extra frame. Boston lacked finish, which has been an issue all season, and the result was a 3-2 loss.
The B’s have scored two goals or fewer in 11 of the last 14 games.
Here are the “3 Stars” from Bruins-Senators.
No. 3 Star: Kevan Miller, Defenseman, Bruins
Miller made a nice pass to set up Loui Eriksson’s second-period goal, which gave Boston a 2-1 lead going into the third period. It was his first assist of the season.
“(Carl Soderberg) came behind the net, (Daniel Paille) was coming down the point and I was open,” Miller said after the game. “He gave it to me and then Loui went to the net. It was just a good play by those guys, good read off that.”
Miller was a plus-3 Corsi at even strength despite starting 36 percent of those shifts in the attacking zone, and he also tallied three shots on goal and three hits in 20:24 of ice time (including a team-high 3:36 of penalty kill ice time).
No. 2 Star: Craig Cunningham, Right Wing, Bruins
Cunningham scored his first career NHL goal, a shorthanded tally, in the first period. He raced into the attacking zone and fired a slap shot that beat Ottawa Senators goaltender Robin Lehner five-hole.
“(Zdeno Chara) made a good play kind of chipping it out of the zone, and I think the D-men got a little flat footed,” Cunningham said. “I just took off and buried my head and tried to get it on the night, and luckily it went in.”
The Providence Bruins captain finished with three shots, two hits and a plus-1 rating in 15:36 of ice time (0:33 shorthanded).
No. 1 Star: Mika Zibanejad, Center, Senators
Zibanejad tied the score 1-1 at 2:24 of the second period with his eighth goal of the season. He faked a slap shot and then created a little more space to beat Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask with a wrister.
“Well it was a good fake,” Rask said of Zibanejad’s goal. “I mean, I didn’t go down. I just dig my toes into the ice and I was stuck there for a half a second, and it was too late. That would have been a great spot to make an old-school skate save, but I just missed it by a half-second. It was a good move, though. In a perfect world, I would have just hung in there and slid over and make a save, but it doesn’t always go that way.”
Zibanejad played the majority of his even-strength shifts against Boston’s top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith. He finished with one shot on goal, a plus-1 rating and one hit in 16:35 of ice time (1:49 power play, 0:32 shorthanded).
GIFs via Twitter/@PeteBlackburn
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
