After the Bruins beat the Florida Panthers on Monday, coach Jim Montgomery admitted he was worried about the upcoming game against the Senators in their home opener in Ottawa while the Bruins were playing the second half of a back-to-back.
His concerns were well-founded, though Montgomery may not have quite envisioned the defense-optional game of shinny that took place at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.
The Bruins twice fell behind by three goals, coming back to tie it once but failing to do so a second time, absorbing their first loss of the season, dropping a 7-5 decision to the young and hungry Sens.
The game could not have begun much more disastrously for the Bruins than it did in the first period, as they coughed up a pair of goals in the first 3:09 and three in all before the Bruins got one back prior to the end of the period.
Jeremy Swayman needed to be sharp early — and he wasn’t. After breezing up the ice on a rush, the Senators scored when Claude Giroux’s shot along the ice got through Swayman, handing the Bruins their first deficit of the season at 1:03.
The Bruins weren’t nearly finished digging their hole. On another Ottawa rush that met little Bruin resistance, Brady Tkachuk took a Tim Stutzle feed on the left wing and his wrister again went through Swayman for the 2-0 at 3:09.
The Sens had a goal called back for goaltender interference on Tkachuk, but they eventually took their 3-0 lead at 13:14. Hampus Lindholm and Mike Reilly were both below the goal line and, with Lindholm stumbling down, they lost the puck battle to Stutzle and Tkachuk. David Krejci could not prevent Tkachuk’s centering pass from getting to Drake Batherson in the slot and Batherson ripped it past Swayman.
But the B’s did claw back for one before the period was out on a Patrice Bergeron goal. Jake DeBrusk sent David Pastrnak off with a lead pass that the speedster chased down and just missed putting in on a wraparound. DeBrusk hustled down the loose puck and then fed Pastrnak out high for a one-timer. Anton Forsberg made the initial stop but Bergeron cleaned up the rebound. It was Bergeron’s 403rd career goal, pushing him ahead of Rick Middleton for third place all time in Bruins’ goalscoring behind Johnny Bucyk (545) and Phil Esposito (459).
That changed the game.
Pastrnak drew a tripping penalty late in the first and, 28 seconds into the second, Krejci got the Bruins to within a goal when he followed up a rebound of a Bergeron shot and lifted it over Forsberg.
And then, just a 1:02 later, the Bruins stunningly tied it up. Charlie Coyle won a puck along the left wing and fed A.J. Greer, who used a Frederic screen to beat Forsberg and it was 3-3.
But the Sens blitzed the Bruins again later and regained their three-goal lead in full on three goals that were once considered very un-Bruin-like. On the first one, Derek Forbort got caught up ice and the Sens broke out on a 2-on-1 with Mathieu Joseph feeding Shane Pinto for the one-timer slapper at 11:57.
Just 2:01 later, Jakub Zboril lost a puck battle to Batherson before Tkachuk fed an all-alone Stutzle in front of the goal.
The Sens then fully recaptured their lead when Anton Stralman, playing his first game for the Bruins, shoveled a puck behind the net right to Austin Watson, who fed Mark Kastelic to make it 6-3 at 16:29.
But as loose as the Bruins defensive structure was, they did battle — and they got back to within a goal before the wild second period was out. Nick Foligno scored his second of the year when he chipped home a loose puck at 17:55.
Then in a 4-on-4 situation, Pastrnak snapped a wrister under the bar with 15 seconds left in the period and they were within striking distance yet again to start the third.
Sensing an opportunity to steal the game, coach Jim Montgomery pulled Swayman in favor of Linus Ullmark to start the third.
But in another 4-on-4, the Sens pushed it back to a two-goal bulge when defenseman Artem Zub beat Connor Clifton to put back his own rebound at 10:07
