Nash, Bruins top Senators for fifth straight win

BOSTON -- Riley Nash scored two goals and had an assist to help the Boston Bruins to their fifth consecutive win, 5-1 against the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden on Wednesday.
David Backes and Danton Heinen each had a goal and an assist, Matt Grzelcyk had two assists, and Kevan Miller scored for the Bruins (20-10-5), who have won eight of 10 (8-1-1).

WATCH: [All Senators vs. Bruins highlights]
It was the fourth two-goal game and second three-point game of Nash's NHL career.
"I think I've been a little bit snakebit this year," said Nash, who has four goals in 34 games this season and 42 in 357 games in seven NHL seasons. "It seems every other year it kind of comes in bunches. I get two tonight, hopefully I can keep that rolling and feel good and maybe shoot the puck a little bit more."

Tuukka Rask made 25 saves to extend his point streak to 10 games (9-0-1).
Thomas Chabot scored for the Senators (11-16-8), who have lost their past four games (0-3-1) and eight straight on the road (0-6-2).
"I think as of right now we're not playing up to the standard that we expect of ourselves, and I think everybody knows it," Senators captain Erik Karlsson said. "I don't think there's an answer I can give you that will satisfy everyone, including ourselves. We have to do a lot better job, especially early in the game, to try and hang in there and have a fighting chance."
Miller gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead 5:22 into the first period with his first goal in 36 games dating to April 2. He scored with a one-timer from the right face-off dot on the rebound of a Backes shot.
The Bruins took a 2-0 lead when Heinen went to the net and redirected Ryan Spooner's pass to the front at 8:28.

Nash scored an unassisted goal 1:25 into the second period after he blocked Karlsson's shot in the Boston zone and skated to the high slot for a wrist shot past goalie Craig Anderson, who made 18 saves after missing Ottawa's 1-0 loss at the Florida Panthers on Saturday with an illness.
Chabot scored from the top of the right face-off circle at 3:49 to cut the Bruins lead to 3-1.
Nash scored his second of the night to give Boston a 4-1 lead at 14:43 after Anders Bjork stripped the puck from defenseman Dion Phaneuf at the Ottawa blue line. Nash received a pass from Bjork and tucked the puck in on the short side after a drive to the net.
"That D-man never kind of committed to me, so I started running out of room and usually that goalie starts to leak off that post," Nash said. "He waited a lot longer than I thought, and eventually there was just a little gap."
Backes scored with 1:20 left in the third period to make it 5-1.

Goal of the game

Nash's goal at 1:25 of the second period.

Save of the game

Rask's glove save on Phaneuf's slap shot at 17:32 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Nash's goal at 14:43 of the second period.

They said it

"The first period wasn't as good as it needed to be. We made some clear defensive mistakes, and they were behind the eight ball the rest of the game after that. I thought we had some scoring chances in the second and in the third, but playing catch-up hockey, it's not the fact that we gave them [23] shots, it's things that we know how to not give." -- Senators coach Guy Boucher
"I think like a lot of nights there were two or three that really had their legs, and two or three that looked like they had some extra Christmas turkey. But we had enough that were flying around." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on young players shaking off the rust after the three-day Christmas break

Need to know

Senators forward Bobby Ryan returned after missing one game with a finger injury. ... It was Boston's first win in the past seven regular-season games against Ottawa (1-4-2), dating to Dec. 29, 2015, a 7-3 victory at home. … It was the first game between the teams since the Senators eliminated the Bruins in Game 6 of the 2017 Eastern Conference First Round. ... Nash's other three-point game was March 2, 2013, for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Panthers. ... This is Rask's fourth point streak of 10 or more games in his NHL career.

What's next

Senators: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDS, TSN5, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Bruins: At the Washington Capitals on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVA Sports, SN360, SNE, SNW, SNP, NESN, NHL.TV)