The Boston Bruins dropped game No. 2 of their five-game road trip Saturday night, falling to the Ottawa Senators 2-1 in overtime.
Given that the loss came on the second night of a back-to-back — the Bruins beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Friday — head coach Claude Julien came away pleased with his team’s overall effort.
“Well, for our second game in two nights there, I thought we competed hard,” Julien said in a postgame interview with NESN’s Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley. “This was a big game for both teams, and I thought we had some real good chances in the overtime — probably had better chances. But they had that one and made the best of it.
“… Three out of four points, we’ll take it.”
Bruins winger Loui Eriksson rang the post moments before Mark Stone potted the overtime game-winner for the Senators, and he also had an breakaway bid in OT denied by Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson.
Anderson and Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask both turned in strong performances, combining to stop 71 of the 74 shots sent their way. Rask, however, did not seem as satisfied with Boston’s showing as his coach did.
“I guess you can always take the positives, and today we got a point on the road,” Rask told reporters on “Bruins Overtime LIVE” on Saturday. “(But) definitely if you look at who deserved to win more, I think they did. So, I guess we’ll take it and move on to New York next.”
The Bruins will visit the Big Apple on Monday for a matchup with the New York Rangers — the team they knocked off 4-3 in an epic Black Friday showdown earlier this season. But first, let’s run through some news and notes from Saturday night’s action.
— The Bruins’ lone goal of the night came off the stick of David Pastrnak, who hadn’t lit the lamp in an NHL game since Oct. 23. Pastrnak returned to the Bruins’ lineup Friday after missing 28 games with a fractured foot.
“I haven’t played for a while and haven’t scored in the NHL for a while, so it was a good play, and I’m lucky I got that goal,” the 19-year-old winger told reporters.
— Another of the Bruins’ younger members turned in one of his best performances of the season without recording a point.
Center Ryan Spooner, who was elevated to the second line when David Krejci went down with an upper body injury, tallied six shots on goal in the loss — tied with Patrice Bergeron for most among B’s skaters — and won 73 percent of his faceoffs. That second stat was particularly encouraging, as the 24-year-old traditionally has struggled at the dot.
“I am (happy with the contributions of the younger players),” Julien told Edwards and Brickley. “For the most part, our young guys are working hard right now. You look at Ryan Spooner, I thought he had a real good game (Saturday night). Skated well and had some great opportunities and some great plays. Good decisions, the backchecking was there.
“You like seeing those young players doing those type of things, and (winger Frank) Vatrano had his legs going, as well. So, we’ve got some young players, even on the back end there, that are doing a pretty decent job.”
— The game was the 900th of Julien’s head-coaching career, making him the 32nd coach in NHL history to reach that mark. The Bruins boss ranks 12th among active coaches in regular season games coached, two games behind the Calgary Flames’ Bob Hartley.
— Senators winger Bobby Ryan skated off the ice in pain late in regulation after slamming hard in the end boards. The collision came after Ryan became entangled with Bruins defenseman Torey Krug, and he appeared to be favoring his arm as he headed to the bench.
Ryan did not stay sidelined for long, however. He was back on the bench to begin overtime.
Thumbnail photo via Perry Nelson/USA TODAY Sports Images
