Bruins get a measure of revenge with overtime win over Linus Ullmark & Senators

Ten days after being embarrassed by the Ottawa Senators, 7-2, the Boston Bruins were looking to keep their winning streak alive on Thursday night at home against the Senators. Since being routed in Ottawa, the Black and Gold have two wins over the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, and Buffalo Sabres.

Looking to pick up some revenge over the Senators, the Bruins picked up a 3-2 overtime win when Pavel Zacha knocked home a loose puck under Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark with 5.6 seconds left in the extra session. In the win, the Andrew Peeke took a heavy hit from Ottawa defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo and went to the locker room in the second period. He came back later in the period and finished out the game. After the game, he was named the 'Grinder Award' winner by his teammate.

That is an award given by first-year coach Marco Sturm and is voted on by his teammates.

"That is why he is big for our team, because he does the dirty work,'' said Sturm.

Also in his postgame press conference, Sturm said star David Pastrnak wants to win the award, but he had a message for Boston's superstar.

“Even a guy like Pasta, he said, ‘I want it.’ I said, ‘Yeah, OK. You gotta work for it then’'…, cracked Sturm.

Joonas Korpisalo beats former team

It was a battle between the pipes with Ullmark and Joonas Korpisalo. Both players were key parts of the trade in June of 2024, where Ullmark went to Ottawa with Korpisalo and Mark Kastelic coming to Boston in return. Both goalies played well, but Koprisalo made one more save than Ullmark to help his team pick up the second point, which is valuable early in the season.

“He was great,” Boston forward Tanner Jeannot said. “Both goalies have been great. It feels really good to know you have a solid goaltender back there. I can’t say enough good things.”

Ullmark finished with 22 saves and Korpisalo turned back 20 Sens shots.

Bruins penalty kill shines, again

During their six-game winning streak, the Bruins' penalty kill has been huge. That was the case again against Ottawa. Boston killed both Senators' power plays, one late in the second and another one midway through the third, which was less than two minutes. Special teams are huge during a winning streak, and while the power play isn't producing the way Boston would hope, the penalty kill is.

Bruins Odds & Ends

• The Bruins rallied for another win after trailing 1-0 after the first period when Michael Amadio gave the Sens a 1-0 lead on their first shot.
• Don't look now, but Morgan Geekie potted his 10th goal of the season in early November after not scoring his 10th until January last year.
• Speaking of Peeke, he picked up the assist on Geekie's second-period strike when his shot hit the post and Geekie jammed it home.
• Sean Kuraly gave the Black and Gold a 2-1 lead late in the second period with his second goal of the season when he sniped a wrist-shot under the crossbar.
• Charlie McAvoy played the biggest role in Zacha's game-winner with a tremendous shift.