Bruins Beat Senators 5-2, Can Clinch First Place With Win On Sunday

The Boston Bruins overcame an early deficit to beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 at TD Garden on Saturday, setting up an opportunity to clinch first place in the Eastern Conference with a win over the Florida Panthers on Sunday. The Tampa Bay Lightning gained just one point on Saturday in an overtime loss to the Hurricanes, putting the Bruins’ destiny back in their own hands.

Ryan Dzingel got the scoring started when he put the Senators up 1-0 in the first period on a wrister short-side past Anton Khudobin. The score stayed that way until the second, when David Pastrnak knotted it up with a snipe of his own on the power play. Patrice Bergeron made the feed from his familiar “bumper” position on the man advantage.

Just 51 seconds later, Tommy Wingels put the Bruins up 2-1 when his shot on Senators goalie Daniel Taylor took a wild bounce straight up then caromed into the net.

And the ultimate game-winner for the B’s came off the stick of Danton Heinen, who led a 2-on-1 rush with Ryan Donato and took the shot, beating Taylor blocker side to put the B’s up 3-1. Ottawa would make it 3-2, but third-period goals by Noel Acciari and David Backes iced the victory for Boston.

Up Next: The Bruins get the Panthers one final time on Sunday to close out the regular season. Two points would put the Bruins in the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference to start the Stanley Cup Playoffs.