Senators at Bruins

Joonas Korpisalo gets the start, as Jeremy Swayman is sidelined with an upper-body injury. Swayman left last night’s debacle in New Jersey after the disastrous second period. Michael DiPietro has been recalled from AHL Providence to back up Korpisalo.

The Bruins are still without Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm but get back Trent Frederic, who missed the last two games with an illness.

The Bruins are out of the playoffs and still owe some games in hand to the competition for the two Eastern Conference Wild Card spots.

Anton Forsberg in net for Ottawa.

FIRST PERIOD

Bruins defending the goal to Rink Rap’s left.

David Pastrnak takes the stretch pass and hits Morgan Geekie, save Forsberg, who makes another close-range stop on Brad Marchand next time down the ice.

Johnny Beecher to the penalty box for holding the Ottawa defenseman’s stick. PP: Old friend Claude Giroux hits the post. Sens crashing the net, trying to rattle Korpisalo. Nikita Zadorov clears. Bruins strip Shane Pinto last second as he stickhandled through the slot.

Geekie to the box for high sticking with 5:30 remaining in the opening period. Bruins have already killed off one penalty. Sens back to the powerplay; their first one established puck control in the attacking zone and some uncomfortable moments for the Bruins.

Ottawa PP: Brady Tkachuk is off balance and misses from the slot. Bruins get the kills, less eventful this time.

Pavel Zacha has a chance at the other end, but Pinto disrupts his shot over the crossbar.

Nice defensive plays, first by Andrew Peeke and then by Brandon Carlo, who leaped to swat away a puck with his hand.

Eiias Lindholm knocks down Tim Stutzle.

Period ends scoreless. Shots 10-7 Ottawa, largely thanks to their two powerplays in the second half of the period.

SECOND PERIOD

Pavel Zacha would up early second period with Matt Poitras and Vinni Lettieri, and the makeshift trio almost score (still 0-0 early second period).

Poitras stays out with Pastrnak and Geekie and the Bruins open the scoring at 2:06, as Pastrnak fakes a wraparound and goes far post where Geekie was waiting. 1-0 Boston.

Charlie Coyle alone: save Forsberg.

Max Jones took a safe route to take the body on Tkachuk in front of the Ottawa bench, but the Sens captain turned on Jones, trying to shove him into the visitors’ bench. Jones was irate, as he yanked back on his stick that Tkachuk was holding. Next time maybe not so sportsmanlike an arrival?

Pastrnak missed a hit on Thomas Chabot, but Geekie flattened the Ottawa defenseman as he was skating the puck out of his zone. Tkachuk briefly tried to engage Geekie, then Chabot crosschecked the Boston forward from behind, earning a penalty at 9:47. Big chance for the Bruins to make the Sens pay for their lack of discipline.

Pastrnak breaks his stick on the one-timer from the left point. Bruins sustain pressure, but can only get a sharp-angle shot that Forsberg smothers. Still got 1:06 … Zacha breaks his stick on a one-timer from an awkward stance. … Ottawa gets the kill.

Bruins ice it on a missed pass play. That might be their first icing of the game with 5:18 left in the second period. The Bruins have iced the puck four times on the same shift more than once this season and have been doing so mostly on missed stretch passes or in desperation. Tonight they’re managing the puck on another level, to a man including Zadorov, who has had the riskiest propensity this year. 5:10 left in the second, and the Bruins are playing one of their better games at a most-needed time. The Sens, BTW, are without star defenseman Jake Sanderson for the first time this season.

Ottawa makes a late-period push, and Drake Batherson tests Korpisalo twice from decent positions. Booming sounds coming off Korpisalo’s pads on those two saves.

Mason Lohrei got into some trouble with the puck and then dodged Tkachuk on the zone exit. The puck was loose, but the Bruins recovered possession. Tkachuk takes no prisoners.

Second period ends with the Bruins holding a 1-0 lead.

Shots after two: 19-19.

Two players in tonight’s Bruins-Sens game with winning records on the dot at second intermission: Claude Giroux and Elias Lindholm.

Bruins defensemen time on ice through two periods: Lohrei (14:02), Wotherspoon (13:24), Carlo (13:10), Callahan (12:55), Peeke (12:35), Zadorov (11:54).

THIRD PERIOD

Bruins making takeaways and good passes. Clean shots are harder to come by, but excellent first shifts for Pastrnak, Zacha and Geekie.

Stutzle wide around the Boston net, hits Batherson on the fly, boom, save Korpisalo.

Max Jones hard to the net at the other end, Sens are all over him. Jones is playing his best game as a Bruin (out of six and not for a while).

Artem Zub interferes with Coyle behind the Ottawa net; Bruins to the powerplay at 5:18 of the third.

First really adventurous moments of the game for the Bruins, who had played a clean game to this point, The short-handed Sens glanced a shot off the post, as the Bruins brought on their own problems with Lohrei, Zadorov and Marchand taking unnecessary risks and turning pucks over.

Ottawa gets the kill but not the tying goal, so the Bruins with an opportunity to reset with 11:25 remaining in regulation up 1-0.

Zadorov gets the stick into Tkachuk’s skates at the Boston line, powerplay for Ottawa at 9:21.

Bruins are saved by a premature whistle before the puck slid out behind Korpisalo and Stutzle swept it into the gaping net. No goal, the whistle had blown.

Bruins tip a pass over the side glass in their own end, officials talking it over … the Bruins are assessed a delay-of-game penalty on the play because the puck went directly off Patrick Brown’s stick. So it’s 5-on-3 for 32 seconds.

Bad spot pass by the Sens, Marchand reads it and collects, avoiding the first hit and maintaining possession, As the second defender attempts to intercept Marchand, he wiggles the puck to the front for Elias Lindholm, who is bodied off the puck before he can collect it. Brilliant effort by the captain.

Bruins get the kill from a tough position.

Carlo ices the puck, trying to go for a soft dump.

Ottawa opens up, Bruins get some pickoffs and scoring chances.

Great job Michael Callahan staying between Tkachuk and Korpisalo. Wotherspoon makes a similar play on the big guy.

Forsberg to the bench with two minutes to go.

Chabot deflects Lindholm’s attempt at the empty net.

Bruins ice the puck with 50.4 seconds left.

Timeout used by Ottawa coach (and former Bruin) Travis Green…

The Bruins who were out there for the icing get the breather as well.

Pastrnak picks off a pass and hits the empty net with 4.4 seconds left.

Bruins win, 2-0. Caught a huge break on the no-goal by Stutzle, but the Bruins were deserving tonight.

Drive safely.