BOSTON — Clarke MacArthur spent almost two full seasons recovering from a concussion, wondering if he would ever be able to return to the Senators.
“There’s nothing like living in the NHL and living in these playoffs,” he said after scoring a power-play goal 6:30 into overtime to help Ottawa beat Boston 3-2 in Game 6 on Sunday and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“It [retirement] is something everyone’s going to have to deal with one day,” said the 32-year-old forward, who was injured in the fourth game of last season and didn’t come back until four games left in this one. “But I want to stretch it out as long as I can.”
Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris scored five minutes apart in the second to give the Senators a 2-1 lead, and Craig Anderson stopped 28 shots for Ottawa. The Senators, who hadn’t won a postseason series for since 2013, will play the New York Rangers in the second round.
Tuukka Rask made 26 saves for the Bruins, who got goals from Drew Stafford and Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins did not get off a shot in the extra period — the fourth overtime game of the series and the 17th of the NHL playoffs, tying the record for an opening round.
“We came in here, took a deep breath [and] realized that, ‘Hey, tie game. Next shot wins. Let’s get back to business,’” Anderson said. “That’s all we did.”
MacArthur sustained a concussion on Oct. 14, 2015 — Game 4 of last season — and hadn’t played since, missing 156 games before he finally passed a baseline test in the last weeks of this season and was cleared to return. He played in only four games this year, without recording a point.
“You’ve been off for a couple of years and you’re thinking, ‘Yeah, I should make this play’ or ‘I should be able to do that,’” he said. “I’ve just been trying to stick with it and be patient, and you know it’s slowly coming.”
MacArthur scored in Game 2 of the series, and then got past David Pastrnak on his way into the Bruins’ zone in overtime, tempting the Boston forward into pulling him down from behind. Just 36 seconds into the power play, MacArthur grabbed a puck that deflected off Tuukka Rask and beat him on the rebound for the series-winner.
“It was off his paddle and went right to me. I was just lucky enough to be in the right spot,” MacArthur said. “You get opportunities like that to put them away, you’ve got to put them away. It’s just awesome that we were able to.”
The Bruins made the playoffs for the first time in three seasons, rallying after firing the winningest coach in franchise history and the one that led them to the 2011 Stanley Cup title. They went 18-8 after Bruce Cassidy replaced Claude Julien, but lost their last two to finish third — behind Ottawa — in the Atlantic Division.
That left them matched up with the Senators in the first round — a bad draw against a team that beat them all four times in the regular season and six consecutive overall. After winning Game 1, Boston lost three in a row before forcing a fifth game with a double-overtime victory on Friday night.
CAPITALS 2,
MAPLE LEAFS 1, OT
TORONTO — Marcus Johansson stuffed his second goal of the game past Frederik Andersen at 6:31 of overtime, lifting Washington to a series-winning victory over Toronto in Game 6.
Johansson pulled Washington even at 1-1 with less than eight minutes to go in the third period after Auston Matthews broke a scoreless tie with his fourth goal of the series for Toronto. It was the fifth overtime game of the series, and the record-setting 18th in the first round of the playoffs.
Holtby had 37 saves for the Capitals, who will face Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Andersen finished with 34 saves for the Maple Leafs.
Sports on 04/24/2017