Tuukka Rask got the start in goal and was outstanding in his first significant action since last April. Rask had watched Tim Thomas play every minute of the Bruins' postseason run and had undergone minor knee surgery since playing in the regular-season finale in New Jersey. But he showed no signs of rust and no limitations from the knee injury as he stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced.
There wasn't much Rask could do on the two shots that did beat him. Brian Lee tied the game midway through the second period with a shot through a screen in front and rookie Mika Zibanejad, the sixth overall pick this June, won it with a one-time blast 3:17 into overtime.
In between, Rask almost singlehandedly kept the Bruins in the game despite Ottawa outshooting Boston 36-26.
"They were definitely the better team tonight," Bruins coach Claude Julien told reporters after the game. "They played a more direct game and we didn't seem to muster up much."
Prior to departing for Ottawa on Wednesday afternoon, the Bruins cut six players from training camp. There are more cuts expected before the next exhibition game Friday night at the Garden against the Islanders, but a few youngsters on the bubble did everything they could to earn the right to stick around a while longer.
Notable among the youngsters improving their stock was forward Lane MacDermid. The Bruins' fourth-round pick in 2009 is best known for his toughness, but he's making a statement in this camp that he can play the game as well.
MacDermid got a chance to play on a line with veterans Chris Kelly and Shawn Thornton and banged home a Thornton rebound for Boston's lone goal. It was the second goal in as many nights for MacDermid, who also scored in Tuesday's Black and White Game in Providence.
"I thought MacDermid played well," Julien said. "He's a good solid player for us."
The other youngster making a statement on Wednesday was defenseman Matt Bartkowski. He led the Bruins in ice time at 25:30 and was a force in both ends of the ice. Bartkowski was actually Boston's last cut on defense as a first-year pro out of Ohio State last year, when he accompanied the team to Europe before being demoted to Providence.
Steven Kampfer passed him on the depth chart during the year and was up with the big club for the second half of the season. But Bartkowski is putting some serious pressure on Kampfer in this camp to stick around as the club's seventh defenseman. Like MacDermid, Bartkowski was coming off a strong performance in the Black and White Game, where he showed his physical side with a huge hit on Jared Knight and his offensive ability with a pass down from the left point to set up MacDermid's goal at the right post.
It wasn't as auspicious a night for some of the veterans battling for jobs. Camp invite Chris Clark was the only Bruin who finished a minus-2 on the night and was relatively invisible for most of the contest after impressing with his physical play in Providence on Tuesday.
Newcomer Benoit Pouliot created some chances playing alongside Patrice Bergeron and helped the Bruins' penalty kill go a perfect 4 for 4 on the night. But he also gave the other penalty killers too much work with a pair of undisciplined penalties, as he was whistled for holding and boarding.
The Bruins' power play wasn't nearly as sharp as the penalty kill. Showing no improvement from its postseason struggles, Boston was also 0 for 4 with the man advantage.
