The second night of a back-to-back is rarely pretty, especially when there's travel involved. They are often games where teams are happy to just grind out a point or two any way they can.
That was the case for the Bruins Thursday night in Ottawa. Coming off a hard-fought loss against the Hurricanes on Wednesday, the Bruins just needed to find a way against the Senators. And they ultimately did, coming away with a 3-2 win in overtime.
A masterpiece this was not. The Bruins landed just three shots on goal in the first period and got outshot 37-23 on the night. They blew a 2-0 lead. They gave the Senators six power plays – not all of them deserved, mind you (more on that in a minute).
But they held on long enough to get to overtime, and then Brad Marchand won it 1:48 into the extra session when he skated in 2-on-1 with Charlie Coyle and snapped a shot past Joonas Korpisalo.
Here are four takeaways from the game:
Milestone for Marchand
The overtime winner was Marchand's 396th career goal, moving him one ahead of Ray Bourque for fifth place on the Bruins' career goals list.
It won't be long until Marchand moves into fourth, as he is now just six behind Rick Middleton (402). He could catch longtime linemate Patrice Bergeron (427) sometime next season. Phil Esposito (459) could be in his sights the year after that.
David Pastrnak (332) will have a much better chance of chasing down Johnny Bucyk's franchise record of 545 given that he is eight years younger than Marchand, but would anyone rule out Marchand playing into his 40s and climbing that high? He has said he'll have to be dragged off the ice before retiring, and just reiterated on Wednesday that he still feels like he has "a lot of time left."
Marchand certainly isn't slowing down yet. In fact, this is turning into quite the statement season after a little bit of a down year last season post-hip surgery. His 24 goals are already more than he had all of last season, and he's actually on pace for his first career 40-goal season. Considering he's 35 years old and playing without Bergeron as his regular center for the first time, that would be quite the achievement.
As for passing Bourque, Marchand was asked what it meant to him during his postgame interview with NESN.
"I think what's more impressive is that he did that being a D-man," Marchand said of Bourque. "His stats when you look at them – I was actually looking at them today – they're so incredible. And what's even better about him is the leader that he was and just his compete level every single day. The stories you hear about him now from guys that played with him and what made him so good, I think that's what I admire the most about him. We try to get better every day, so to be in company with someone like that, it is pretty incredible. Never something I thought would happen, but it's just great to be able to be around guys like that and learn from them. That's what makes this organization special."
Embarrassing officiating
As much as the Bruins struggled at times Thursday, the reality is they still would have won in regulation if not for some poor, downright embarrassing officiating.
Both of the Senators' goals came on the power play, and both of those power plays were undeserved. On the first penalty, late in the second period, Trent Frederic and Parker Kelly were battling for the puck, and Kelly just flopped to the ice when Frederic began to outmuscle him, drawing a tripping call in the process.
On the second, which came late in the third, Parker Wotherspoon gave Kelly a mild shove to the back during a battle in the corner – the kind of shove that happens in almost every corner battle. But Kelly dropped like a ton of bricks again, and the ref fell for it again, calling Wotherspoon for crosschecking. And the Senators scored again to tie the game.
The Senators ended up with six power plays for the night, while the Bruins got just one. The game wasn't nearly lopsided enough to warrant such a large disparity. Whether they were looking for reasons to call penalties on the Bruins or they were just legitimately fooled by Kelly's acting, it was a really rough night for the stripes.
Frederic on fire
Trent Frederic scored the Bruins' second goal of the game, taking a pass from Pavel Zacha, skating right down Main Street, and snapping a shot blocker-side past Korpisalo.
The goal extended Frederic's point streak to four games, and he now has 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in the last 17 games. His 14 goals on the season are three shy of his career high. His 14 assists have already tied his career high. It's not even the All-Star break yet.
There are 317 forwards who have played at least 400 5-on-5 minutes this season. Frederic's 2.48 points per 60 minutes rank 40th, and are actually tied with Pastrnak for second on the Bruins, behind only Coyle.
It's crazy to think that Frederic was a healthy scratch on opening night just last season, not to mention in two playoff games as well. Now he's a bona fide middle-six forward who can drive the third line or help the first or second line if he gets moved up, like he did on Wednesday when he assisted on both of Marchand's third-period goals.
Another multi-point game for Pastrnak
The Bruins' lone power play of the game lasted just three seconds, because that's all it took for Pastrnak to blast a one-timer past Korpisalo to open the scoring.
Pastrnak also picked up the secondary assist on Frederic's goal, giving him his fifth multi-point game in the last seven games. He now has multiple points in 24 of 48 games on the season and is up to 69 points (31 goals, 38 assists) total, which ranks third in the NHL. He continues to be on pace to surpass his career-high 113 points from last season.
