Senators hold off Bruins, leads series

Ottawa center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (right) drops Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy to the ice on a hard check during the first period in Game 3 of their NHL Eastern Conference playoff matchup Monday. The Senators got a goal from Bobby Ryan in overtime to beat the Bruins 4-3 and take a 2-1 series lead.
Ottawa center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (right) drops Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy to the ice on a hard check during the first period in Game 3 of their NHL Eastern Conference playoff matchup Monday. The Senators got a goal from Bobby Ryan in overtime to beat the Bruins 4-3 and take a 2-1 series lead.

BOSTON — The Ottawa Senators needed a late rally in Game 2 to tie their NHL Eastern Conference playoff series with the Boston Bruins.

In Game 3, they had to stave off a furious charge by the Bruins to regain the series lead.

Bobby Ryan scored on a tip-in on a power play 5:43 into overtime, and the Ottawa recovered after giving up a three-goal lead to beat Boston 4-3 on Monday night and take a 2-1 edge in the first-round series.

Just over a minute after Bruins center Riley Nash received a two-minute penalty for roughing Ryan, Ryan got free in the zone, scoring on assists by Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson. Mike Hoffman added two goals for Ottawa, with Derick Brassard scoring the other. Craig Anderson finished with 17 saves.

“I always say that you make your money during the season, but you make your reputation in the playoffs, and right now he’s showing everybody that he’s a gamer,” Senators Coach Guy Boucher said of Ryan.

It was the second consecutive overtime game of the series, and second victory in a row for the Senators following their 4-3 victory in Game

2.

Game 4 is Wednesday night in Boston.

This time Bruins rallied from a 3-0 deficit with three goals in second period, tying the game on a power play goal by David Pastrnak.

Noel Acciari and David Backes also scored for the Bruins. Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots.

“We were allowed to play in the second and third [periods]. We were a better team,” Pastrnak said. “We had many opportunities to end it in the third.”

Bruins fans rained sustained boos on the referees after Ryan’s goal and threw items on the TD Garden ice in protest of the Nash’s penalty, which give the Senators the one-man advantage.

Boston interim coach Bruce Cassidy said the penalty took the energy out of his team’s surge to tie the game in regulation.

“Yeah, I agree with you 100 percent — demoralizing,” he said.

Ottawa seemed to be cruising in the second period following Hoffman’s second goal of the night off a power play to make it 3-0. But then Boston finally got going on the offensive end.

First, Acciari, who returned from injury, got Boston on the board on a tip-in off a miss by John- Michael Liles. That was followed 42 seconds later by Backes’ slap shot after he broke through the Senators’ defense to swipe the puck and open the ice.

Then, the Bruins finally cashed in on Pastrnak’s goal with Dion Phaeneuf in the penalty box for slashing.

It nearly nullified what was a dominating start by the Senators, who kept the action on their side of the red line for most of the first period.

The Bruins played through a rash of injuries in the first two games, and were missing defensemen Adam McQuaid, Torey Krug, Brandon Carlo and Colin Miller on Monday.

Acciari and center David Krejci both returned, but Boston struggled early to find much offensive traction.

Hoffman and Brassard scored just 25 seconds apart in the first period and exploited a depleted Boston defense to give Ottawa an early 2-0 lead.

The Bruins made up for their sloppy start and came out more aggressive on the offensive end in the second period, scoring three goals on just seven shots — including the two in 42 seconds — to get back into the game.

The Senators outshot the Bruins 10-3 in the first, taking advantage of several defensive breakdowns on their side of the ice.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, CAPITALS 3

TORONTO — Tyler Bozak scored 1:37 into overtime to cap Toronto’s comeback from two goals down in the second period, and the Maple Leafs beat Washington to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.

Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri each had a goal and an assist, and William Nylander also scored for Toronto. Frederik Andersen made 23 saves.

Toronto trailed 2-0 in the first period, and then 3-1 early in the second before Kadri and Nylander scored 4:07 apart late to tie the score in the final minute of the period.

Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov all scored for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Capitals. Braden Holtby stopped 24 shots. All three games so far have been decided in overtime.

Game 4 is Wednesday night.

The Maple Leafs were hosting their first playoff game in almost four years and coming off an exciting double-overtime victory in Game 2. However, the Capitals got the early jump as they scored twice in the first five minutes with both goals coming from their top line of Ovechkin, Backstrom and T.J. Oshie.

Washington looked crisp and confident early, cycling pucks with authority in the Toronto end. But the Capitals generated few shots or scoring chances beyond the goals, and the Maple Leafs pushed back with Matthews’ first goal of the series.

The 19-year-old, held without a point in Games 1 and 2, sped through the neutral zone with speed and fired a shot that ricocheted off John Carlson, Schmidt’s face and Matthews’ body before finally hitting Holtby. He stopped the initial shot, but Matthews hung with it and batted the rebound out of the air to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Washington led 3-1 and had a chance to put the Leafs away after Kuznetsov upped the lead back to two with his first goal of the playoffs 5:39 into the second period, but Toronto’s penalty-kill managed to fend off a full 2-minute 5-on-3 Capitals’ power play. The unit stood tall again a short while later when the club was called for too many men.

The Leafs pulled back within one when Kadri fired through traffic from the point to beat Holtby with 4:47 left in the middle period.

Nylander evened the score at 3-3 with 40 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

Sports on 04/18/2017

Upcoming Events