Bruins Notes: Jim Montgomery ‘Loved’ Boston’s Grit In OT Win

Even though the Boston Bruins earned a 3-2 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night, not much went their way.

The Bruins were careless at times and unlucky other times, making routine trips to the penalty boxes, sometimes on very questionable calls. They were also outshot, 37-23 — Boston only had three shots on net in the first period.

But the Bruins kept pushing until Brad Marchand found the back of the net 1:48 into the extra frame to deliver two points to Boston.

“What I really loved is how gritty we were,” Jim Montgomery told NESN’s Andy Brickley, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “How we stuck together, how we kept playing the right way five-on-five.”

The Bruins were clearly frustrated with the whistle they received as Montgomery gave the on-ice officials an earful a couple of times following penalties.

But despite a lot of head-shaking after infractions, the Bruins still stayed within themselves to not let the calls get them completely off track and get back into the win column.

“We obviously can’t control the calls that go against us there in a game,” Marchand told NESN’s Adam Pellerin, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “Thought we did a great job being resilient, battling through that. We got in late, back-to-back with travel, it’s never easy. So, thought we did a great job persevering, getting that win. It feels good.”

The Bruins needed that resiliency the most after Senators forward Vladimir Tarasenko leveled the score with a power-play goal with 3:18 remaining in regulation.

It looked like the Bruins might squander another opportunity to come out with a win — a common theme at points this season — but then they delivered their biggest answer of the game to come out on top.

“We’re really proud of ourselves with our response and we don’t want to lose two in a row,” Jeremy Swayman told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “Even letting up a goal late didn’t faze us as you could tell. It’s just next shift, next guy up and that’s the way we ran tonight.”

Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Senators game:

— Marchand’s overtime goal had some history behind it. He moved into a tie with Jaromir Jagr for third place all-time in NHL history with 19 career overtime goals. The tally also pushed Marchand past Bruins legend Ray Bourque for career goals in franchise history as the pesky winger is all alone in fifth place now with 396 goals.

“(Bourque’s) stats when you look at them — I was actually looking at them today — they’re so incredible,” Marchand said. “… To be in company with someone like that, it is pretty incredible. Never something I thought would happen. It’s just great to be able to be around guys like that and learn from them. That’s what makes this organization special.’

— Boston’s penalty kill got plenty of work in the win. The Bruins committed nine penalties, which led to the Senators going 2-for-6 on the power play. Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen were the top penalty killers for the Bruins.

— Derek Forbort was a notable absence on Boston’s penalty kill. The veteran defenseman, who has battled injuries this season, had just 13:57 time on ice — the fewest minutes among Bruins defensemen — and saw only one minute of action when Boston was shorthanded.

— Swayman turned in another terrific outing in what was presumably his final start in net before the All-Star break. Swayman recorded 35 saves, including making a couple of key stops in overtime.

— The Bruins stay on the road for one more contest as they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Saturday. Puck drop from Wells Fargo Center is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.