They capped their season-high six-game road trip with a 5-3 win, putting them over .500 for the trip at 3-2-1. They also gained some much-needed breathing space atop the Northeast Division, extending their advantage over Ottawa to five points with three games in hand.
That doesn't mean they didn't have to sweat a bit. After building a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead in the third, senators captain Daniel Alfredsson struck for two goals in a 1:37 span in the final four minutes to pull within a single goal.
Patrice Bergeron finally let the Bruins exhale again with an empty-netter with 18.2 seconds left to secure the victory.
"In the third, we kind of expected the push they had," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. "So we tried to really focus on our defensive game. We made some mistakes. They scored some goals. But the important thing is we won, we got the two points and we finished off pretty strong on our road trip."
The Bruins are definitely playing better than they have for the better part of a month. They still haven't won back-to-back games since Jan. 10 and 12, but they have now strung together a three-game point streak with wins over St. Louis and Ottawa sandwiched around a shootout loss in Buffalo to close out the trip.
The victories are particularly impressive considering the opposition. The Blues hadn't lost in regulation on home ice since Dec. 3, an 18-0-3 streak until the Bruins prevailed 4-2 on Wednesday. Ottawa was riding a four-game win streak, having scored 21 goals while allowing just four in that span before the Bruins scored five on Saturday alone.
"I think we're ramping our game up," Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference said. "Obviously they've been playing very well, and we're trying to get back to playoff form and do all those little things that help our team. This has been a good road trip. Numbers-wise, I think we just squeaked over .500, but as far as our play went, we took a lot of good steps. So there's a lot of positives to take. Now we've just got to continue it and keep it rolling."
The Bruins shook off an Ottawa goal just 1:10 into play to rally for a 2-1 lead after the first period, thanks largely to Bergeron. Bergeron scored Boston's first goal on a rebound off a Chara shot, and set up Brad Marchand for the second goal. Bergeron finished the game with three points and nine shots in 19:29, setting the tone in all three zones.
The Bruins really took over play in the second, with Carter Camper extending the lead with his first NHL goal. That was the only score the Bruins would get in the period, but they took control with a 16-6 edge in shots and kept the Senators on their heels with an aggressive forecheck, avoiding the mid-game let-ups that have plagued them in recent weeks.
"It was good," Ference said. "It was really consistent. We scored when we had to. We had one of our better second periods that I can remember. It was a good solid game."
Now, the Bruins will need to put together another solid effort when these same Senators come to the Garden to complete the home-and-home set on Tuesday.
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