CBSSports.com wire reports
Dec. 14, 2011
OTTAWA — Tim Thomas made 47 saves, Daniel Paille scored twice and the Boston Bruins extended their winning streak to three games with a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.
Rich Peverley had a goal and an assist and Chris Kelly and Patrice Bergeron also scored for Boston, which won for the second night in a row to move atop the Eastern Conference standings. Andrew Ference had two assists.
The Bruins, who have 41 points and one more win than Philadelphia, have gone 17-2-1 since Nov. 1, when they launched a 10-game winning streak with a 5-3 win over Ottawa.
Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza each had a goal and an assist for the Senators, on a 2-4-2 skid despite an overtime win at Buffalo a night earlier.
Craig Anderson stopped 24 shots for Ottawa.
Tuukka Rask recorded his first shutout of the season Tuesday night as the Bruins beat Los Angeles 3-0 in their first game without defenseman Zdeno Chara.
The Boston captain missed his second straight game after injuring his left knee Saturday in Columbus.
The Senators were without Milan Michalek, who sustained a concussion Tuesday night. Michalek was injured in a collision with teammate Erik Karlsson after scoring his NHL-leading 19th goal earlier in the game.
Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid was given a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct after he stuck out his leg to trip up Nick Foligno 17:45 into the second.
Foligno went to the dressing room but returned before the end of the second to take a shift during the ensuing power play.
Thomas stopped each of the 13 shots he faced in the opening period as Boston took a 1-0 lead 12:10 in on Peverleys second goal in two nights.
Peverley assisted on former Senators center Kellys goal 13:47 into the second to put the Bruins up 2-1. Kelly got behind defensemen Matt Carkner and rookie David Rundblad and was all alone to put a rebound of Johnny Boychuks shot between Andersons pads.
Bergeron made it 3-1 with an unassisted effort 4:54 into the third. The Bruins center took advantage of Alfredssons uncharacteristic turnover at the Ottawa blue line and drove in to beat Anderson with a deke for his sixth goal.
Paille beat Anderson on a breakaway at 5:50 to increase the lead to 4-1. He added his second of the game with 1:04 remaining after Spezza scored at 15:55.
Spezza assisted on Alfredssons goal 4:23 into the second that tied it at 1.
Notes
Bruins LW Milan Lucic fought with Carkner in the first. … Boston is 6-5-3 without Chara in the lineup since 2006, when he left the Senators to sign with the Bruins as a free agent. … Alfredssons goal was the 397th of his career. … Spezza has a goal and six assists during a four-game points streak.