Bruins tie with late surge, win in shootout
The Boston Bruins surprised even themselves with a stunning rally.
Patrice Bergeron scored the lone shootout goal and the Bruins rallied late for a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
The Bruins trailed 3-1 with 1:28 remaining in regulation before tying it on goals by Mark Recchi and David Krejci.
Blake Wheeler also scored for the Bruins (5-4-1), while Tim Thomas faced 30 shots to improve to 15-8-0-2 against Ottawa.
"I thought we were going to lose once we were down 3-1 with two minutes left," Thomas said. "You never give, but I don't think anybody in the building expected that."
Milan Michalek, Mike Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson had goals for the Senators (5-2-2). Brian Elliott stopped 25 shots but let Krejci's slip past him with 21 seconds remaining.
"There's two guys open in front with 30 seconds left," Elliott said. "That really can't happen. We really need to communicate better in our own end especially when we're trying to close out a game."
Alfredsson, who picked up his fourth of the season, couldn't hide his frustration.
"They had no business winning that game," Alfredsson said. "They get one goal and then get a little bit lucky. We failed to clear and (Anton) Volchenkov loses his stick and they score."
Alex Kovalev, Alfredsson and Jason Spezza were unable to score in the shootout.
The first period was scoreless, largely thanks to Elliott. Making just his second start of the season, the 24-year-old made a number of key saves as the Bruins created plenty of traffic in front of the Ottawa goal.
Alfredsson opened the scoring midway through the second with a short-handed goal. Mike Fisher took the puck from the side boards and found Alfredsson, who broke in alone and beat Thomas through the legs.
The Senators now have a league-best four short-handed goals this season, equaling the number of power-play goals they have.
The Bruins tied it with less than three minutes remaining in the period as Wheeler seemed to catch Elliott off guard.
Thomas was solid early in the third, as he stopped Spezza and made a great glove save on Jonathan Cheechoo, who continues to search for his first goal as a Senator.
After Spezza set up Michalek for the go-ahead goal, Fisher made it 3-1 at 11:13 as his pass from the side boards ended up bouncing in on a weird angle.
Recchi played in his 1,500th game and scored the Bruins' second goal of the game. He is one assist shy of 900 and his 1,445 points are third-most since the 1988-89 season.
"I won't forget it, that's for sure," said Recchi, who was given a rousing ovation by Ottawa fans. "It was awesome to get an ovation like that. It was pretty special and I appreciate it and I appreciate the fans."
Notes: Ottawa was without D Filip Kuba (lower body, day-to-day). RW Shean Donovan was a healthy scratch, while C Jesse Winchester was sent to Binghamton for a conditioning stint. ... Boston's Shawn Thornton was back in the lineup after missing the last two games. The Bruins were without C Marc Savard (broken foot, indefinite) and LW Milan Lucic (broken finger, indefinite). C Trent Whitfield, LW Guillaume Lefebvre and D Johnny Boychuk were healthy scratches.
