Senators score twice in final minutes, rally past Bruins in shootout

OTTAWA -- Nick Jensen and Josh Norris each scored with the goalie pulled for an extra skater in the third period, and the Ottawa Senators rallied to defeat the Boston Bruins 6-5 in a shootout at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

"Probably the greatest comeback I've ever been a part of," Ottawa goalie Leevi Merilainen said. "Such a crazy game. High emotions. Felt like a playoff game for the most part."

Jensen scored with a snap shot from the right face-off circle to cut it to 5-4 at 16:47.

"We didn't execute well enough under their pressure when they had 6-on-5," Boston coach Joe Sacco said. "We just have to be better defending that lead when it's 6-on-5. I don't know, really, what else to say. We can't give up slot chances like that. Give them credit, they were hungry, but we have to do a better job. The guys out there, we have to make sure we get the puck out of our zone."

Norris then one-timed a pass from Claude Giroux from the slot to tie the game 5-5 at 19:48.

"I was so out of breath, I was dying," Norris said. "'G' put it on a platter for me. Just a great play, man, great play. … It was a lot of fun; the crowd was great. Just a couple crazy momentum swings and, yeah, proud of the guys. We hung in there. Man, that was a hard game."

Tim Stutzle scored the only goal in the shootout and had a goal and an assist, Norris scored twice, and Merilainen made 23 saves for the Senators (23-18-4), who are 4-0-1 in their past five games.

"A., big character win. But B., we're going to learn a lot of lessons as we go down the stretch and as we play these type of games," Ottawa coach Travis Green said. "It was a hard-fought game."

David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists, Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie each had a goal and an assist, and Jeremy Swayman made 39 saves for the Bruins (22-19-6), who lost for the seventh time in nine games (2-5-2).

"'Sway' was in there tonight and he gave us a chance to win again," Sacco said. "All you can ask from your goaltender, and he did it again. We have to cut down on certain scoring opportunities to help him out."

Adam Gaudette gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 1:47 of the first period when he scored at the edge of the crease.

Stutzle's pass attempt was blocked, but he regained possession and scored with a wrist shot over Swayman's blocker to make it 2-0 at 7:35.

Zacha cut it to 2-1 at 11:07 with a backhand on a power play after a centering pass from Pastrnak.

Pastrnak tied it 2-2 at 19:22 when he beat Merilainen with a wrist shot over the blocker from the top of the right face-off circle on the rush.

"We have to protect our house; we're relying on the goalie too much," Pastrnak said. "There are games where they have 40 shots, but they're not very high-end chances, but like I said, the last couple of games it's too many shots from inside the house. Protect the slot and block more shots. Honestly, we didn't deserve to win. We were up two goals."

Geekie scored on a cross-slot pass from Zacha in front to give Boston a 3-2 lead at 1:06 of the second period.

Norris tipped a Jake Sanderson point shot on the power play to tie it 3-3 at 5:41.

John Beecher's point shot went under the right arm of Merilainen to make it 4-3 at 14:38.

"That's what's special about this year for our group: Every game matters," Swayman said. "That's something we can build on and rally around. We're putting ourselves in great opportunities to really catapult the position we're in."

Vinni Lettieri extended the lead to 5-3 at 11:23 of the third period.

"I've never played a playoff game before, but I feel like that emulated it pretty solid tonight," Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. "There's been some pretty awesome atmospheres, but I don't know, this one just felt different. It felt like a preview of what's to come."

NOTES: The Senators won after overcoming a two-goal deficit in the final five minutes of regulation for the third time in their history (Feb. 13, 2023, vs. Calgary Flames; Nov. 5, 1993, at Winnipeg Jets). … It was Pastrnak's third straight game with three points. He is the first Bruins player to do that since Ray Bourque in 1993-94. … Bruins forward Brad Marchand did not take a shift in overtime; Sacco said it was a coach's decision. … Senators goalie Linus Ullmark has not played since Dec. 23 because of a back injury, but is day to day and will travel with the team on their upcoming road trip, which begins at the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.