Saturday’s 6-5 shootout loss to the Senators might be the perfect encapsulation of the 2024-25 Bruins season. From the rough start to the strong stretch that indicated that they might have righted the ship to the frustrating finish that left Boston in a bad spot.
After Pavel Zacha failed to score and extend the shootout, the Bruins found themselves, outside of the playoff picture at 22-19-6, tied with Ottawa, but behind them in tie-breakers.
Boston hosts San Jose on Monday.
The Bruins were flat out of the gate and the Senators took advantage with two goals in the first eight minutes, but Boston found its leg and tied the game before intermission.
After the teams traded goals early in the second, Johnny Beecher scored late giving the visitors a 4-3 lead headed into the third.
They appeared to be in good shape in a big game when Vinni Lettieri stretch the Bruins’ lead to 5-3 with 8:37 left in the game. Ottawa coach Travis Green got aggressive and pulled his goalie with three minutes left and his team rewarded him for it. Nick Jensen scored with 3:13 left to bring Ottawa within one and Josh Norris scored with 12 seconds left to force overtime.
Tim Stutzle scored the only goal in the shootout to earn the Senators the extra point.
The loss wasted another three-point game for David Pastrnak, who had a goal and two assists.
Jeremy Swayman made 39 saves, but took the loss.
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