The Boston Bruins looked rough, to put it mildly, falling flat on their faces against the Ottawa Senators in a 4-1 loss right there at TD Garden on Monday night. James Hagens actually notched his second career goal, which is cool for him, but it just wasn’t enough to spark anything for the home team.
Early Penalties and Power Play Woes Sink the Ship Fast
Things got off to a bumpy start when Warren Foegele got called for an interference minor, and what happened next was brutal. Marco Sturm rolled out the familiar power play unit, with David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm, Pavel Zacha, and Mason Lohrei ready to go. But literally 20 seconds into their power play, Tim Stützle decided to rip one in on a 2-on-1 with Michael Amadio. Seriously? A short-handed goal against your top unit? It didn’t get better, either. Right as that power play ended, Stützle sniped his second goal in a ridiculous 1:43. Talk about a gut punch!
The Bruins’ second unit, featuring James Hagens, Fraser Minten, JJ Peterka, Casey Mittelstadt, and Hampus Lindholm, got a chance shortly after going down by two, but they managed only one shot on Linus Ullmark before Hagens took a slashing minor of his own. Rookie Matt Poitras, making his season debut, followed Hagens to the box just seven seconds later. The Bruins’ penalty kill unit deserves a ton of credit though; they absolutely shut down the Senators’ 1:48 5-on-3 power play, holding them without a single shot on Jeremy Swayman. Still, Ullmark stopped all seven shots he faced in the first period, and Stützle’s quick pair put the Senators up going into the second.
Second Period Collapse and a Goalie Swap
Any hope for a comeback in the second period evaporated fast. Drake Batherson extended the lead a mere 66 seconds in. Stützle sprung him on a breakaway after Hagens couldn’t get the puck deep on a change. Just four minutes later, the Senators kept pushing. Michael Amadio got it from Nick Cousins, who was set up by Shane Pinto. Nikita Zadorov’s stick actually got in Pinto’s way, but the puck still found Amadio’s tape, and he beat Swayman to make it a four-goal game. Coach Sturm tried to shake things up, shuffling the forward lines. Geekie and Peterka flipped spots, and Mark Kastelic and James Hagens swapped in the bottom-six. JJ Peterka had a breakaway chance, but Senators captain Thomas Chabot took him down, sending Peterka crashing into Ullmark. Peterka went down the tunnel for a minute, but credit to him, he came back for his next shift.
Then things got weird. Linus Ullmark didn’t even come out for the third period. He wasn’t on the Senators’ bench at all! Samuel Ersson, who they picked up over the summer, took over in net. Guess that combined shutout attempt was officially on.
Hagens Breaks the Shutout, But That’s It
James Hagens actually got the Bruins on the board at the 3:30 mark of the third period, breaking the Senators’ combined shutout attempt. He banked the puck off Ersson from behind the goal line, it got stuck in his pads, and Ersson accidentally pushed it over the line. A wild way to score, but hey, a goal is a goal, right? Unfortunately, that was all the Bruins had in the tank. They only fired nine shots on Ersson in the third, and that Hagens fluky goal was the only one that beat him.
The Bruins get Tuesday off to lick their wounds, heading back to the practice rink Wednesday morning. They’ll continue their homestand on Thursday night when they host Andrew Peeke and the Utah Mammoth. They’ve got a lot to clean up before then, especially that power play.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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