Senators win final game of the season

The Ottawa Senators ended the 2023-24 season on a winning note with a 3-1 victory against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

As the regular season drew to a close, the Senators scored first and didn’t look back in their first win against the division rival from Massachusetts this season.

“It was great to finish with a win for the guys,” said interim head coach Jacques Martin following the game.

The Senators managed to get 11 shots on goal in the opening frame and kept the Bruins on their heels, allowing only three in return. However, despite two power plays in the first period, Ottawa couldn’t score.

That changed in the second period when the Senators scored twice in quick succession.

The first goal was the first career goal for Jiri Smejkal, with an assist going to Erik Brannstrom when Smejkal's hard shot from a tough angle squeaked through the pads of Linus Ullmark to open the scoring.

Ottawa added to that goal only 51 seconds later when Jakob Chychrun wired a shot for his 14th goal of the season, with assists going to Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk.

Later in the second period, Thomas Chabot would be forced to the locker room with an injury, and he was joined by Chychrun later in the third, leaving a depleted Senators defense corps.

“I think we were short manpower on the D, but I think the four guys that were left played really well,” added Martin. “I thought the forwards did a great job of keeping the puck ahead of us and defending, so I think that was the difference.”

While the Senators' defense performed admirably, the Bruins were able to score and bring the game within a goal at 12:41 of the third period on a goal from Pavel Zacha.

Anton Forsberg had a strong game all night, but from that point on, he took over, including a phenomenal save to keep the Senators' lead safe with 4:35 to play in the game on a shot from Charlie McAvoy.

The Bruins rallied to try and tie the game, but once they pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker, it was Artem Zub making the big play and scoring the Senators' final goal of the season to make it 3-1.

“It must feel nice for (Forsberg), but also the whole group, to grind out that back-to-back to finish the year,” said captain Brady Tkachuk about finishing the season against the Rangers and Bruins. “Two teams at the top of the division wasn’t an easy task, but I thought the group fought the fight tonight.”

This starts the a longer offseason than anyone with the Senators hoped for or wanted when the season started in October. However, the core seems confident they will continue making strides next season.

“For me, it is going to take some time to reflect and get ready for the hard work in the summer with the workouts,” added Tkachuk. “I have all the faith and trust in management and ownership and whatever plans they have, and I just want to be the best leader I can.”