GARRIOCH: Senators with few hands just can’t find a tie in loss to Bruins

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BRUINS 3, SENATORS 2

Ottawa’s few senators refused to surrender without a fight Tuesday night.

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Fighting a COVID-19 outbreak that forced the club to bring in reinforcements from its AHL affiliate in Belleville to complete its lineup card, the Senators lost their fifth straight game with a disappointing 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in the TD Garden.

While Nikita Zaitsev and Zach Sanford scored for the Senators and Matt Murray was solid at the net, Ottawa went 0-for-6 with a man advantage, and that turned out to be costly. The club had a chance late in the third period and failed to register a shot as Boston goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman took the win.

The senators made a push at the end, but couldn’t tie it.

After a 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, it’s been a tough few days for the senators. The club has five players – Austin Watson, Dylan Grambell, Nick Holden, Connor Brown and Victor Mete – on the COVID-19 protocol after they tested positive following the club’s trip to Dallas, Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota.

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As a result of the tests, the senators did not go out on the ice Monday before leaving town and were told not to leave their Boston hotel on Monday night. That meant dinner was ordered and the same rules that applied throughout last season have been re-enforced until this outbreak is under control.

The Senators have struggled to succeed in Boston at best and this was even more difficult with the club battling adversity. Winger Egor Sokolov was called up from Belleville to play in his first NHL game, while defender Erik Brannstrom made his season debut.

Ottawa had lost five straight games in Boston heading into this one and had not scored a regular season win here since April 6, 2017. The biggest challenge for the senators was trying to close the line for Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David. . Pastrnak, but could not be denied and hit two of the three goals of the club.

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Boston entered this game with a 4-0-0 record at the Garden this season.

“They have been a good team here for a long time,” coach DJ Smith told reporters in Boston before the game. “They have such a good line, or maybe the best, in hockey. We have to find a way to keep them off the board. When you’re out there against them, you have to watch the record. “

The Senators had chances in the third, including Drake Batherson hitting the post, but the club couldn’t score a goal when it needed it most.

The second period was wild and had just about everything, including heavy hitting, a fight and a combined four goals from both teams for the Bruins to take a 3-2 lead. A perfect rebound off a broken stick up front allowed Bergeron to give Boston the lead after 40 minutes when he fired it for Murray on the stick side.

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The club lost Nick Paul late in the second when he blocked a shot and had to be helped down the aisle, but the good news was that he came back in the third.

Not only did Alex Formenton drop the gloves on Boston’s Connor Clifton, but defender Josh Brown was throwing his body as well. Zaitsev became the first blueliner to score this season when he fired a puck from the boards that found its way through Swayman to tie 2-2 at 13:09.

The Bruins led 2-1 at 10:58 of the second on the strength of Derek Forbort’s second of the season. The club didn’t do a good job of pulling the puck out of its own zone and Forbort fired a shot from Murray’s circle with Boston putting all kinds of pressure on the Senators.

Boston drew 1-1 on shot 17 against Murray. That came at 5:12 of the second with Artem Zub in the cross-check box. Charlie McAvoy fired a shot from the spot that bounced off Marchand’s body in front and by Murray on the side of the glove.

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Senators had no complaints about their effort in the first term. Yes, it would have helped if they had been able to take advantage of a 5-on-3 for 31 seconds with less than five minutes to go, but they got Murray’s key saves after being outshot 14-11 by the Bruins.

Sanford got off to a good start on his 27th birthday. Moved to the top line to play with Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk, Sanford, who played at Boston College and was born in nearby Salem, Mass., Scored his first goal in a uniform for Ottawa when he took a perfect pass from Tkachuk to shoot one for Swayman on the side of the glove.

“It was crazy. We are missing a lot of key players and a lot of important parts of this team, ”Sanford told TSN’s Gord Miller after the first period. “We have guys who come from all the cities and call us to try to fill those places. Personally, I think we have done a great job and our training staff have done well ”.

The Senators host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Center.

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Twitter: @sungarrioch