Senators squander lead, Bruins score in overtime to survive another game

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They say that the fourth game is hardest to win.

They might be right, given the way the Ottawa Senators squandered a two-goal lead Friday night to allow the Boston Bruins another life as the Bruins turned a 3-2 victory into a Game 6 back in Boston on Sunday afternoon.

The game was not settled until the second extra period, when at the 10:19 mark Sean Kuraly put a rebound past Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson for the victory.

Had the Senators held on to what seemed an easy win, the series would have been over.

Certainly the Ottawa team had every reason to be confident. In the Bruins long history of Stanley Cup playoffs, they have never come back to win a series in which they were down three games to one.

Hall-of-Fame coach Al Arbour once said that opening series can sometimes be the most difficult. "This is a hump you have to get over," Arbour believed, "and it usually comes in the first series. You get over the hump and you're on a roll."

It certainly seemed the Senators were on a roll.

With Ottawa up 2-0 30 seconds into the second period, thanks to a breakaway goal by Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Ottawa should have been able to put the game out of reach, only to see players blow a two-on-one break, a partial breakaway by swift, stone-handed Ryan Dzingel and an all-alone-in-front-of-the-Boston-net opportunity by defenceman Cody Ceci.

Instead, the second period slowly tilted back in favour of the Bruins as, first, the much-booed Brad Marchand sent a wraparound pass from back of the Ottawa net and David Pastrnak clipped the puck in behind Senators goaltender Craig Anderson.

The goal marked more than two hours – 120:32 – of playoff hockey where the Bruins had been unable to score on Anderson.

With the period running out, Boston scored again, this time an embarrassing goal from back of the net by Sean Kuraly that Anderson seemed not to see.

It goes without saying that it is the end of the game that decides, but it is the beginning of the match that usually determines the game that will be played.

Both teams talked about how they had to open strong in such a pivotal game – Senators win they would move on; Bruins wins, they would go back to Boston for Game 6. Senators coach Guy Boucher had even put a time frame around it: the first 10 minutes.

As expected, the game began hard and fast, with both teams seemingly driven to gain an early edge. At the 10 minute mark both teams had a power play, both had a successful penalty kill and each had four shots on net. Anything more even that that would be hard to come by.

Less than two minutes after that 10-minute mark, however, Senators forward Mike Hoffman sent a long saucer pass to a breaking Mark Stone, who came in alone on Boston goalkeeper Tuukka Rask. Stone faked to his forehand to draw Rask out and effortlessly deposited a backhand into the Boston net to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead.

For Stone, who had struggled at season's end and into the first four games of this playoff series, it marked a welcome return to form for a player who has for some time been one of the Senators most dangerous scorers.

(Stone might have been the hero of the night, had he not rattled a quick wrist shot off the Boston crossbar in the third period.)

No less an observer than Wayne Gretzky once said that there are actually several seasons in the hockey year – exhibition, regular, post-trading-deadline, early rounds of the playoffs and the Stanley Cup final – all featuring very different hockey as well as different stars.

The second assist on the Stone goal went to Derick Brassard, the former New York Ranger who was picked up in a trade last summer to add depth to the team. Known for his postseason play, Brassard had a generally miserable season – only to explode in the first round with now two goals and four assists.

The other fans' whipping boy, Bobby Ryan of the $7.25-million (U.S.) salary, similarly came to life against Boston, with five points heading into Game 5 and two game-winning goals to his credit.

Ottawa's key player, however, has been captain Erik Karlsson, whose game has appeared to move into a new level these playoffs.

In the afternoon, thanks to a social media faux pas by the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was revealed that Karlsson, along with Tampa's Victor Hedman and Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks, is once again a finalist for the Norris Trophy, the top defenceman award he has already claimed twice. He has been "incredible," said defenceman Dion Phaneuf. "He changed his game this year, in a sense of blocking more shots, and I think he's done a really good job of paying the price blocking the puck – which isn't easy to do. … He's such a force night in and night out."

This night, however, Karlsson could not save his team. "It's not like he's invincible," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy has said earlier in the day. Sometimes it seems that way, though.

"We haven't played our best game yet," Karlsson said.

That had better come Sunday afternoon.

"It's a different series," Boston's Krejci said.

With both teams trying to get over that difficult hump.