Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bergeron scores in overtime as Bruins down Senators

Sometimes the puck doesn’t need to be flying a hundred miles per hour to get past the goalie…

…In this game none of them did.

Feb 28, 2013; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (44) and Ottawa Senators right wing Jakob Silfverberg (33) battle for the puck during the first period at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Patrice Bergeron put just enough stick on the puck to dribble it past a sprawling Robin Lehner to score the game winner at 3:38 of overtime as the Boston Bruins squeaked past the scrappy Ottawa Senators 2-1 at TD Garden on Thursday night.

Nathan Horton also scored for the Bruins who won their fifth straight and improved to 13-2-2 on the season and Jim O’Brien scored his fifth of the season for the Senators, who fell to 12-6-3 and had a five game winning streak snapped in the process.

The game featured two distinctly different styles, as if it were Dancing with the Stars meets WWE Smackdown..the Crisp passing and graceful skating of the Ottawa Senators against the physical brutality of the Boston Bruins – and for three periods the two styles cancelled each other out…

…for 60-plus minutes the teams took turns showing off thier wares – the Senators making long passes right on the tape of their intended targets which had the Bruins back on their heels, as it were, then the Bruins checking the Sens so often that the referees thought about asking for proper I.D..

The goal tenders, Boston’s Tuukka Rask and Ottawa’s Robin Lehner were fabulous in goal stoning 30 and a ridiculous 44 respectively.

Horton gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead, taking a 2 on 1 pass from Dougie Hamilton, sliding an “Excuse me” change up past Lehner at 5:48 of the second period, but then at the midway point of the period the Bruins took the always sloppy too many men on the ice penalty.

With the man advantage, O’Brien ended a streak of 27 consecutive penalty kills by Boston, tipping in a  rebound off a shot by Kaspars Daugavins that was misplayed by David Krejci in front of the net to tie the match at 1-1.

After a scoreless final frame, the Bruins started overtime shorthanded as Milan Lucic had been called for delay of game for wrapping his hand around the puck trying to control it along the boards behind the Ottawa goal with 30 seconds left in regulation…

…Rask making several point blank stops on Senators’ offerings before Bergeron ended the game with his dribbler off a rebound from a Dennis Seidenberg drive from the point, the tip in barely clearing the red line before Lehner could clear.

Ottawa now travels to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Saturday night, then catch the red eye puddle jumper to Uniondale, New York to face off with the Islanders on Sunday while the Bruins host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a Saturday Matinee before hosting the hated Montreal Canadiens on Sunday evening.