BOSTON — Obviously, it’s far too early to know if the Ottawa Senators can rise into an Eastern Conference playoff spot. But if they get there, they might want to point to two games in Boston as reasons why.
On Dec. 13, Bobby Ryan, stopped by Tuukka Rask on an overtime breakaway, scored the deciding shootout goal as the Senators tied the game in regulation and won, 3-2, for the first coaching victory by Dave Cameron.
On Saturday, Ottawa again tied the game, 2-2, in the third period and this time Ryan converted a pass from defenseman Erik Karlsson 44 seconds into overtime for another 3-2 victory.
“To do it in this building, and that kind of effort does a lot for morale I think,” Ryan said, before adding, “but there’s a lot of parts of our game that need to be better.”
Added goaltender Craig Anderson, after making 26 saves: “It’s good for momentum. “I think it’s important for us to have some success after last little bit of focusing on the process.
“The process has been there, we haven’t gotten the result every single night that we wanted but tonight was a different story. We played the right way.”
The Senators, seven points out of a playoff spot coming in, improved to 16-14-7. The extra point and not suffering their eighth extra-time loss of the season, also was big.
Ryan was stopped by Rask on Dec. 13, but Saturday, Rask had no chance as Ryan and Karlsson were on top of him with only defenseman Zdeno Chara back as the Bruins played their usual three forward and one defenseman in overtime.
After left winger Mike Hoffman tied the game with 4:15 left in regulation, Ryan delivered his 11th goal of the season and fourth in two games.
The Bruins took a 2-1 lead with 9:25 left in regulation, left winger Brad Marchand scoring his team-high 11th goal off center David Krejci’s second assist of the game. Hoffman then scored his 12th.
Ottawa center Kyle Turris and Boston defenseman Torey Krug had the other goals.
The Bruins, falling back to 19-15-5, killed two lengthy 5-on-3 power plays but didn’t play a strong overall game and wound up falling in extra time for the second straight game. They are 6-7-5 in their last 18 games.
Anderson, 2-4 with a lofty 4.06 goals against average at TD Garden coming in, played well, while Rask had 23 stops for the Bruins.
“I thought we played a pretty tight game,” Krejci said. “We didn’t get much, but we didn’t give them much. It was well played. I think defensive style of hockey on both sides.
“In overtime or shootouts you never know what can happen. Games like this we shouldn’t let them go to overtime.”
Bruins coach Claude Julien flip-flopped his top two left wingers in a move to get both Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand going, and Marchand scored. Lucic has one goal in his last 14 games.
The Bruins killed off a 1:42 five-on-three early in the second period but then fell behind when Turris scored at 12:33, off a hustle play by left winger Clarke MacArthur.
Boston then killed a 43-second two-man in the third period.
The Bruins tied the game, 1-1, on a power-play goal with 3:38 left in the first period, their third straight game with a power play goal. Krejci fed Krug for a one-timer that Anderson had trouble finding with Chara and his huge frame screening.
Defenseman Adam McQuaid, returning after an 18-game absence because of a broken finger, had one of the two penalties on both Ottawa 5-of-3s.
McQuaid also drew a tripping penalty on left winger Milan Michalek with 2:37 left in regulation, but was victimized by MacArthur’s hustle on the first Ottawa goal.
Ottawa went 0-for-5 on its power play and is 0-for-18 in the last five games.
Ryan said: “It’s horrendous that we’re not putting pucks to areas to be successful and we’re not generating second, third opportunities; and that’s where your power play is going to win you games deep in the season when you’re able to keep pucks in and get back to the net.”
NOTES: With D Adam McQuaid, who missed 18 games because of a broken finger, returning, the Bruins had their entire lineup in the same game for only the third time all season. … The Senators were missing D Mark Borowiecki, who sustained a left leg cut (estimated to be worth at least 60 stitches) on an electrical outlet playing hallway soccer (popular among NHL teams) before last Monday’s game. They recalled D Chris Wideman from Binghamton, where he was that team’s leading scorer, but Wideman was called up as insurance and didn’t dress. … Ottawa D Marc Methot, who has played only two games this season and missed the last 11 because of an aggravation of his back injury, was set to begin a rehab at Binghamton on Saturday. … Both teams play on Sunday — the Senators at home against the Tampa Bay Lighting and the Bruins at the Carolina Hurricanes.