Bruins beaten by Senators, 5-3

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Nov 13, 2025

Published in Hockey

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The Bruins struggled on their breakouts both early and late, wiping a good effort in between those bookends, and they saw their seven-game win streak go up in smoke in a 5-3 loss to the Senators in Ottawa on Thursday.

Tim Stutzle scored the winning goal with 5:43 left in the third, spoiling a spirited comeback attempt by the B’s.

The Bruins had worked hard in the second to halve a 2-0 Ottawa lead, but the Senators got their two-goal lead right back at 1:06 of the third period. The Bruins got caught on a bad change after Jake Sanderson captured a clear-out at the red line and counter-attacked, moving the puck up to Michael Amadio, who sent a pass down low for Shane Pinto redirection.

But the B’s were undaunted, scrapping back to tie the game.

The B’s got one back at 3:49 on a power-play goal from David Pastrnak, just shortly after a Pastrnak goal came off the board because of an successful offside challenge from Ottawa. The good goal was Pastrnak’s 11th of the year and his 402nd of his career, tying him with Rick Middleton for fifth on the Bruins all-time goal list.

The B’s kept coming, evening it up at 5:15. Mark Kastelic, who had turned the game around with his physicality in the second period, tied the game when he muscled home a rebound past goalie Leevi Merilainen.

But Ottawa regained the lead with 5:43 left in the third period. After letting the play settle down from behind his net, Hampus Lindholm’s breakout pass was into a crowd and it put the B’s in scramble mode. Stutzle was left alone on the right side back door, and after taking Drake Batherson’s cross-ice pass, ripped it past a flailing Joonas Korpisalo to make it 4-3.

The B’s pulled Korpisalo for an extra skater with over two minutes but couldn’t get anything going and Stutzle finished it off.

The Bruins got smoked the last time they were in Ottawa, getting embarrassed by the Senators, 7-2, on Oct. 27.

Since that game, the B’s ripped off seven straight wins and appeared to have had sorted out their game. You wouldn’t have known it in the opening 20 minutes.

The first period looked a lot like that Oct. 27 game as the Senators jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

Back in that first game, the Sens gashed the B’s for four power-play goals and they took a 1-0 lead on a PP goal just 1:28 into the game. After being put on the man-advantage due to a mistake call — Jeffrey Viel went to the box for tripping Drew Batherson 40 seconds into the game, but it was actually Ottawa’s Nick Jensen who got his stick between Batherson’s skates — Claude Giroux took a great pass from Stutzle and pounded a one-timer past Korpisalo.

The B’s, outshot 10-4 in the first, had trouble breaking out of their zone, much like in their first meeting, and thus had little sustained pressure at the other end. Their best scoring chance came when Mikey Eyssimont clanged the crossbar from the left wing. Otherwise, Merilainen was not forced to make any tough saves in the first.

As poorly as the first period went, it looked like they’d escape with just a one-goal deficit. But late in the period, the fourth line and the Mason Lohrei-Henri Jokiharju pairing had a rough shift that resulted in a damaging Dylan Cozens goal with 1:02 left in the period after multiple failed clearing attempts.

The vibe dramatically changed in the second period as the B’s upped their physicality level, led by Kastelic on the very first shift.

The B’s grinded away on the Senators, and thanks to some offensive zone time, earned their first power play on an interference call off a faceoff.

They didn’t cash in on the PP, but they extended their momentum on it and finally broke their ice at 11:49 on a nice rush play. From just above the circles, Marat Khusnutdinov zipped a cross-ice pass to Pastrnak on the right wing. Pastrnak froze Merilainen and sent a perfect pass to Morgan Geekie for a tap-in, Geekie’s 12th of the season.

Senator tough guy Kurtis McDermid tried to stem the B’s physicality by dropping the gloves with Tanner Jeannot. Both big, strong men did a good job of tying up each other’s arms to prevent any big shots, but eventually Jeannot muscled McDermid on to his backside, with the Senator flipping him at the last second.

The B’s flipped the shot clock in the second, outshooting Ottawa 10-4, but were still down a goal after 40 minutes.