Bruins Fail to Clinch First Place in Atlantic Division, 3-1 Loss vs. Ottawa Senators | 4/16/2024

The Bruins played their final game in the regular season, taking a 3-1 loss against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, April 16th. Boston had lost both of their last games to end the regular season, failing to clinch first place in the Atlantic Division. The Florida Panthers moved one point ahead after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2, and the Bruins finished second. The Bruins will be playing the Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference First Round. Pavel Zacha scored the lone goal for Boston, and Linus Ullmark made a total of 17 saves.

Senators lineup against the Bruins:

Tkachuk – Pinto – Batherson

Joseph – Greig – Giroux

Katchouk – Ostapchuk – Kelly

Smejkal – Macewen – Kubalik

Sanderson – Zub

Chabot – Brannstrom

Chychrun – Bernard-Docker

Forsberg

Korpisalo

Bruins lineup against the Senators:

Marchand – Coyle – DeBrusk

Heinen – Zacha – Pastrnak

van Riemsdyk – Geekie – Frederic

Lauko – Boqvist – Megna

Grzelcyk – McAvoy

Lindholm – Peeke

Wotherspoon – Shattenkirk

Ullmark

Swayman

   Jiri Smejkal opened the scoring in the second at 9:55 with his first NHL career goal when he shot from the left circle, the puck slipping in past Linus Ullmark five-hole. Only 51 seconds later, Jakob Chychrun recorded his 14th goal of the season to give the Senators a 2-0 lead. During a 3-on-2 rush, he received a cross-ice pass from Drake Batherson to score short side at the left circle.

   Pavel Zacha cut it to 2-1 with 7:16 on the clock in the third period with his 21st goal of the season. With his 21st of the season, he tied his career high he had set last season. Zacha got to a rebound in front, finishing with his backhand on a power play. With only 1:48 left in regulation, Artem Zub struck the empty net short-handed for the 3-1 final from center ice.

Brad Marchand on the loss and playoffs: “This game is done and over with regardless of how it went and how we played in any of the periods. Come playoff time, so much excitement and adrenaline. Guys are so dialed in that it would’ve been nice if we played better tonight but at the end of the day, we have all week to prepare and we’ll be excited to get going.”

Linus Ullmark on the loss and how they played: “Results-wise, not what we wanted. Obviously, some things to clean up. It’s a good thing that we have a couple of days now before the fun starts,” – “You always got to take what is given, you got to do what’s best, you got to try your hardest, and we came out way better in the third than we did in the first two periods. So, that’s something good, I think. For the future, it’s not something that you want to do.”

Notes:

– The Bruins outshot the Ottawa Senators 23-2 in the third period.

– Thomas Chabot had left the game late in the first period after taking a hit from Andrew Peeke. There had been no updates…

– Anton Forsberg made a total of 34 saves for Ottawa.