Morgan Geekie scored the game-winning goal and Joonas Korpisalo recorded a 29-save shutout as the Boston Bruins beat the visiting Ottawa Senators 2-0 on Thursday night.
Geekie tallied at 2:06 of the second period, his second goal in as many games and fourth in a six-game span.
David Pastrnak dished out the primary assist on Geekie’s goal and added a late empty-net goal, extending his point streak to six games (six goals, eight assists).
Korpisalo, who made 10 saves in the third period, played for a second straight game after relieving Jeremy Swayman for the third period of a 5-1 road loss to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
Swayman did not dress due on Thursday to a minor upper-body injury.
The Bruins finished a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill, fending off a pair of infractions in both the first and third periods.
The victory moved Boston to 4-1-1 in its past six games.
Anton Forsberg stopped 24 shots for Ottawa, which was shut out for the second straight game and fifth time in its past 11 contests. The Senators have lost two in a row since a 5-0-1 stretch.
The second-period goal was all the offense Boston needed. Geekie beat Forsberg with a snipe from the top of the crease after Pastrnak collected the puck behind the net and spun around near the left post to fire a pass across.
After going 0-for-2 on the power play in the first, Ottawa was also unable to capitalize on a 32-second five-on-three across back-to-back man advantages in the third. The latter stretch included a near-game-tying goal as Tim Stutzle banged in a puck that was loose behind Korpisalo, but the play was blown dead early.
Forsberg faced his busiest workload with 12 saves in the middle frame and made several important ones down the stretch to keep his team in the game.
A Pavel Zacha one-timer with 3:30 left in regulation could have put the game away for Boston, but the Ottawa goaltender moved across the crease to stop it.
Pastrnak ended all doubt by finding an empty net with 4.4 seconds to play.
Both teams also hit a post during the scoreless first period. Korpisalo was especially tested during the Senators’ first power play, making back-to-back stops on Brady Tkachuk from close range with about eight minutes remaining.
Ottawa played without 22-year-old defenseman Jake Sanderson (lower-body injury) for the first time all season.
–Field Level Media
