LDN - Sports

Bruins stay alive with 2 OT win over Senators

[April 22, 2017] OTTAWA -- Rookie Sean Kuraly was re-inserted into the Boston Bruins lineup on Friday because, in the words of coach Bruce Cassidy, "He's good at getting on pucks."

As it turns out, he's also pretty good at putting them in the net in clutch situations.

Kuraly scored twice in Friday's 3-2 double overtime victory, including the winner, to lift the Bruins back into their opening round best-of-seven with the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre.

The Senators lead the series 3-2 with the venue switching to Boston for Game 6 on Sunday afternoon.

Kuraly, who has played just eight regular season games and was suited up for only his third in the playoffs, scored the deciding goal at 10:19 of the second extra session. He said a lot of good plays preceded his shot into a wide-open cage.

"I was just at the tail end of it," Kuraly said. "The puck went onto my stick and I passed it into the back of the net. It was four by six. Those are the good ones. You don't get many of those, but hey, it bounced on my stick tonight and happy that it did."

Kuraly also scored the tying goal at 17:05 of the second period as the Bruins completed their rally from a 2-0 deficit. It was the first of his career for Kuraly, a 24-year old former fifth round pick who previously had only one assist on his NHL resume.

"You work a long time to do that," said Kuraly. "For it to go in felt good."

David Pastrnak had the other Boston goal while Mark Stone and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for the Senators.

Tuukka Rask made 41 stops for the Bruins while Craig Anderson stopped 36 shots in the Ottawa net.

"It's one of those things where Tuukka made some good saves, kept their team in it, let themselves battle back in," said Anderson. "It's just kind of the way the game went.

"We're still one game away. That's all it is. One game away, and one win. So put it behind you, go forward. Can't do much about it now. So, don't dwell on it. Move forward for the next one."

The Senators had two power plays in the final 5:08 of regulation time but couldn't capitalize. They ended the night 0-for-5 with the man-advantage against a Bruins team that has the No. 1 ranked penalty killing unit during the regular season.

"We were fortunate our kill came through big time and we were able to regroup from that," said Cassidy, whose team lost center David Krejci when he was injured by a Chris Wideman hit in the first period. "Both sides had their chances and tonight it went our way. That's it in a nutshell.

"I thought we hung in there through some injuries, some things that didn't go our way, we thought we might have scored earlier, and we just kept playing and we were able to get one."

The Bruins looked to have the game won with 5:35 left in the first overtime, when Kuraly broke in down the left wing and fired a shot that Anderson stopped before the loose puck was put into the net by Noel Acciari. After a review, the goal was wiped out when it was ruled Kuraly was guilty of goalie interference.

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Bruins center Riley Nash (20) shoots the puck in front of Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson (41) in the first period of game five of the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

Less than a minute later, the Bruins had another close call around the Ottawa net, but Pageau pulled the pick off the line.

"We needed to take advantage of that," said Pageau. "It's too late now. I think we've just got to turn the page and focus on the next (game)."

Kuraly, who played the first two games of the series at Canadian Tire Centre, replaced center Ryan Spooner, an Ottawa native. The move was a gutsy one by Cassidy, who is also from Ottawa.

Spooner had two assists in the first four games.

"We liked (Kuraly) but we just put some guys ahead of him that had been here all year," said Cassidy. "One door closes and another one opens. He kind of took advantage of his opportunities. He started at the bottom of the lineup. Tonight, we just needed him more and he had the energy. This is a good series for him because it's a forechecking series and that's one of his strengths."

All five games of the series have been decided by one goal, including three in overtime. In other words, it's playing out just as everyone expected.

"Right now, it definitely stings," Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf said of the loss. "They're emotional games. We expected a hard fought, long, grinding, grueling series, and that's what we've got.

"I don't know how to explain it any better than, they're pushing, we're pushing and it goes to double overtime, anything can happen. It's disappointing, but we've got to move on. We expected a battle and we've got one."

NOTES: Ottawa lost F Viktor Stalberg to injury after he had played more than 16 minutes. Stalberg is listed as day-to-day. ... Senators C Chris Kelly played his first game of the series, replacing injured LW Tom Pyatt. Kelly played six seasons with the Bruins, and was a member of their 2011 Stanley Cup winning team, before re-signing with Ottawa in the offseason. He played all 82 regular season games for the Senators ... Senators G Craig Anderson had a shutout stretch of 100 minutes, 32 seconds before David Pastrnak's goal.

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