By Canadian Press

Torey Krug scores overtime winner to lift Bruins over Senators 2-1

Dec 9, 2018 | 5:43 PM

OTTAWA — Mike McKenna made a career-high 42 saves Sunday, but a 43rd eluded him and Boston Bruins came away with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators in overtime.   

Torey Krug scored 3:07 into the extra frame after he received a cross-crease pass from David Krejci and beat McKenna with a one-timer to end the game.

McKenna said he felt prepared to step in for starter Craig Anderson heading into the second leg of the Senators’ back-to-back games.

“I felt like myself and I felt like I’ve had a lot of good work leading up to this to be ready for it,” said the backup goaltender, who made a diving, two-pad stack save on Sean Kuraly in overtime.

“Credit to our goalie coaching, credit to my teammates and all that, but I felt like myself out there. It might have been the most (saves) in the NHL, but I’ve had games like that in other places before.”

The winning goal allowed the beleaguered Bruins to collect consecutive victories as they followed up on their win over Toronto on Saturday night, which halted a three-game skid.

“It was a tough game for us. It took us a while to wake up there and guys were still in their pre-game nap. We responded well and Tuukka (Rask) made some big saves and we were able to come away with a win,” said Krug, who deferred credit on the winning goal to Krejci.

“It’s a highly, highly skilled player making a great pass. He sees things that other guys can’t see, even from up in the press box. He made a great play and I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of it.”

Mark Stone scored in regulation for the Senators (13-14-3). Brad Marchand had the regulation goal for the Bruins (15-10-4) and Rask made 27 saves for the victory.

The Senators lost 5-2 to the Montreal Canadiens twice last week and also lost the services of Matt Duchene and Bobby Ryan, who were both hurt in the second of those games.

Despite that they managed to collect three of a possible four points this weekend after Saturday’s 2-1 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“We got a point tonight, but it’s tough when it’s a division team. Come April, those are the points that really matter,” said Senators forward Zack Smith.  

“We can’t hang our heads too much because we bounced back pretty good especially after losing those two games against Montreal. That was tough for us and we didn’t like the way our game was there but we were a lot better the last two games for sure.”

It was a frantic pace over the final seven minutes of the third period, starting with a game-saving glove save by Rask off Stone on a two-on-one when the Senators were shorthanded and a delayed penalty was coming to the Bruins.

McKenna then stopped Marchand in close before turning aside David Pastrnak on a breakaway. McKenna stopped 14 shots in the third period as the Bruins outshot Ottawa 14-4.

A goal from the Senators in the first period and a power-play goal from the Bruins in the second was all the scoring through the first 60 minutes of the game.

Stone put Ottawa on the board 12:51 into the first, when he one-timed a circle-to-circle pass from Colin White past Rask.

The Senators failed to capitalize on a 5-on-3 advantage for one minute, including the final 50 seconds of the first period.

Marchand tied the game at 1-1, beating McKenna at 7:49 of the second period as the Senators played a man short following an instigator penalty to Ben Harpur 58 seconds earlier.

The teams traded chances late in the period, but both goaltenders held strong to keep the game tied heading to the third.

Notes: Dylan DeMelo and Christian Jaros were scratches for the Senators while Noel Acciari, Jake Debrusk and Jeremy Lauzon were scratches for the Bruins. … After sweeping the season-series against the Bruins two years ago, the Senators have lost seven straight against Boston, including their two previous meetings this season. … The Senators open a three-game road trip Tuesday against the Nashville Predators. The Bruins host the Arizona Coyotes Tuesday.

Darren Desaulniers, The Canadian Press