OTTAWA — All Tuukka Rask wanted for his 28th birthday Tuesday was two points.
The Boston Bruins goalie made his own wish come true with a brilliant 39-save performance in a 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre.
The victory padded the Bruins lead in Eastern Conference wild-card race to six points over the Florida Panthers. The Senators, who missed a golden opportunity to gain ground, are now seven points behind the Bruins.
“It was good,” said Rask of his birthday. “It wasn’t easy today. I thought the first period was our best period and after that we didn’t play our best, but we got the win and that’s all we need.”
Center Ryan Spooner had two goals for the Bruins, while winger Loui Eriksson had the other.
Rookie winger Matt Puempel replied for the Senators with his first as an NHLer.
While Rask was a busy man, Senators goalie Craig Anderson stopped 19 shots in his second game back from a hand injury that sidelined him for more than six weeks. The decision to start Anderson was a controversial one, as it meant keeping Andrew Hammond and his 7-0-1 record as a starter on the bench.
When Senators coach Dave Cameron was asked if he stood by his choice, he replied: “This job will be available eventually, just apply for it.”
The Senators cursed their luck, especially in a second period, which saw them outscored 3-0 while outshooting the Bruins 21-10.
“We hit three posts in a 10 minute span in the second,” said Senators center Kyle Turris. “When we’re getting chances like that, we can’t be giving up odd man rushes, get away from playing our structured game. That’s what hurt us.”
Spooner scored his first of the night, and second in 40 NHL games, at 1:02 of the second period with Boston on the power play. His shot from the bottom of the right-wing faceoff circle went in off the post. Defensemen Torey Krug and Dougie Hamilton had the assists.
“He was good tonight,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said of Spooner. “Scoring that first goal was huge to give us that lead. Great shot on his part. It was nice to see him score a couple of goals in his hometown. We’re seeing him really turn the corner. That’s what young players do. You have to give them time.”
Eriksson made it 2-0 a little more than 13 minutes later when he chased down a loose puck in the Ottawa zone, tipped it by defenseman Cody Ceci and held onto his shot until Anderson was out of position. It was Eriksson’s 17th of the season.
Spooner picked up his second about a minute and half later, cashing in on a scramble after winger Milan Lucic knocked the puck loose.
Spooner, who is from Ottawa, said he didn’t feel bad about hurting his home team’s playoff chances.
“I had a text actually from about four of my friends,” he said. “They said, ‘You guys cannot win tonight. You’ve got to let the Sens win, they need to catch you. I was like, ‘that’s not going to happen.’”
Puempel scored at the 8:30 mark of the third period, flipping the puck in the open side after a shot from the point by defenseman Patrick Wiercioch went wide and rebounded right to him off the end boards.
“I thought both teams were semi-nervous or maybe tentative at the start,” said Senators defenseman Marc Methot, whose team didn’t record its first shot on goal until the 10:17 mark. “But we weathered that pretty well.
“We know what kind of team they are, and they’re real good at holding the lead against teams. I think that’s what it came down to. They buried their opportunities, we hit a few posts. Not to make excuses, but that really was the difference, I think.”
The two teams face each other once more in the regular season, March 19 in Ottawa.
The Bruins next game is Thursday, when they are at home to face the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I heard in the second intermission we gave up six scoring chances off the rush and that’s too many,” Rask said when asked what the Bruins have to do better to beat Tampa. “We have to have better angles and better push back and better reads overall. When you give teams that are good on the rush 3-on-2s, the odds are they are going to score at some point.”
The Senators play the Canadiens in Montreal on Thursday.
NOTES: The Senators scratched D Jared Cowen, who hasn’t played since serving a three-game suspension for a high hit on Florida’s LW Jussi Jokinen on Feb. 21. … Senators D Patrick Wiercioch suited up for his ninth consecutive game, a season-high. … Senators LW Colin Greening was also scratched for the third game in a row. Greening has played just three games, the last March 4 in Winnipeg, since being recalled from the AHL’s Binghamton Senators … Filling in for injured Bruins C David Krejci is C Ryan Spooner, a 23-year-old who grew up close to Canadian Tire Centre. “I remember when I played here last year I was happy but not comfortable to be here,” said Spooner. “Now I’m back up and I feel good.”