BOSTON — Patrice Bergeron and Matt Beleskey netted two goals apiece, and Jimmy Hayes scored with 0.2 seconds remaining to cap his first career hat trick as the as the Bruins took down the Ottawa Senators in emphatic fashion Tuesday night to end a three-game losing streak.
Torey Krug, Loui Eriksson and Ryan Spooner each contributed two assists, and 13 different Bruins factored into the scoring in the 7-3 win, which gave Boston some much-needed momentum heading into Friday’s outdoor matchup with the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL Winter Classic.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Hayes scored his second goal of the night at the 15:49 mark of the third period to put Boston ahead 5-3, and Beleskey scored his second less than a minute later to put the game away.
Goals have been few and far between this season for Hayes, who had scored just one in his previous 21 games. His first-period tally also snapped a four-game pointless streak for the Bruins winger and gave Boston an early 1-0 lead.
For Beleskey, the two-goal night was his first since 2010.
BACK IN ACTION
Krug returned to the Bruins’ lineup after missing Sunday’s game with an undisclosed injury and played a major role, finding Bergeron for two of Boston’s four power-play goals. The defenseman’s second assist was his 100th career point.
Forward Seth Griffith also made his season debut for the Bruins, having earned a call-up from the American Hockey League after David Krejci was placed on injured reserve with an upper body injury.
Griffith was credited with the secondary assist on Bergeron’s second goal, giving the 22-year-old his first point of the season.
NEW-LOOK LINEUP
Krejci’s injury and Griffith’s promotion prompted Bruins coach Claude Julien to shuffle his line combinations. Griffith joined Brad Marchand and Bergeron on the top line, Spooner took over Krejci’s usual spot as second-line center, Brett Connolly moved from the first line to the third, and Hayes bumped down to the fourth unit.
TOO EASY
Hayes received a belated Christmas gift from the Ottawa defense midway through the first period.
No Senators player scooped up the loose puck after a Kevan Miller shot banged off the end boards, allowing Hayes to swoop in and tap it past Anderson.
M”A”RCHAND
Bergeron, Krejci and Chris Kelly began the season as the Bruins’ alternate captains, but with both Krejci and Kelly injured, Marchand wore the second “A” against the Senators.
The winger’s first game with a letter was not his best, however. His post-whistle slash on Kyle Turris extended an Senators power play by 1:57 midway through the third period, and he could be hearing from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety after he upended Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki with a low hit.
YOU WON’T LIKE HIM WHEN HE’S ANGRY
Speaking of Borowiecki, the Senators defenseman again received a face full of ice shavings after getting into it with Bruins captain Zdeno Chara.
Both players dropped the gloves after a scuffle behind the Boston net, but Chara flung Borowiecki to the ice so quickly that each player received a roughing minor rather than a fighting major.
AND A LINE BRAWL
The teams apparently were saving the real fights for the game’s final minutes. Landon Ferraro and Max McCormick squared off with 1:03 remaining in the third period, and roughly 40 seconds later, a hit on Miller sparked a full-on brawl the likes of which we had not previously seen in a Bruins game this season.
Officials handed out 82 penalty minutes in the game’s final 63 seconds.
UP NEXT
The game Bruins fans have long been waiting for finally is here. The B’s and Canadiens will invade Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., on New Year’s Day for the 2016 Winter Classic.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
