Bruins top Senators before Jagr joins team
BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins won a wide-open and entertaining hockey game Tuesday night, but much of the post-game talk was about a guy who wasn't even in the building.
Earlier Tuesday, the Bruins acquired future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr from Dallas in exchange for two bodies and a draft pick. He is scheduled to debut for the Bruins Thursday night against New Jersey.
"The experience that he has and what he's been through on different levels as far as world championships, Olympics, World Cups, and so on, it's very valuable to have a player and person like that," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said after the 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
"A long time ago, back when I was 10 years old, my uncle, Dan Kesa, played on the Pittsburgh Penguins and when they played the Canucks and I had a chance to go down to the dressing room and meet him," said Milan Lucic. "That was obviously when he was in his absolute prime and for me and my brothers as kids it was pretty awesome to meet a guy like him.
"The same feeling today, when you hear the news, you get to play with a legend like himself it's definitely ... it's going to be a great addition to our team; and I think Claude (coach Julien) said it best when he said we're not looking for him to be the savior, we're looking for him to add on to this team and hopefully make us better."
Jagr, who comes to Boston with as many goals, 14, as any Bruin, will provide help for a struggling power play. His strength is along "the wall," something the club hasn't had since losing Marc Savard to head injuries, has to help.
"There's no doubt he's going to help us and I think that's the key word," said Julien. "He's coming to help us; he's not coming to save us."
The news wasn't all good for Boston. The Bruins lost leading scorer and the NHL's No. 1 faceoff man Patrice Bergeron to what appeared to be an injury to his head or shoulder; after he came together with Ottawa's Colin Greening as the Senator was trying to shoot in the second period. He made contact with Greening's forearm or elbow.
Bergeron has had two serious concussions but has been concussion free for almost two years. There was no word on his condition after the game.
As far as the game itself, the Bruins fired a season-high 50 shots at Robin Lehner, but also allowed 47 shots on their own goalie, Anton Khudobin, playing his second straight game and coming off a 2-0 shutout of Buffalo Sunday night. Boston pulled it out to move back to within a point of the idle Canadiens in the Northeast Division.
It was the ultimate good news/bad news for Julien as a coach; he was thrilled at his team's offense and but anything BUT when talking about defense.
Asked about not seeing 97 shots in a modern NHL game, Julien said, "You do in scrimmages," and added, "somehow we have to combine both together and I thought we were very soft defensively."
Nathan Horton (12th goal) converted a Lucic (two assists) rebound with 9:39 left and Khudobin stopped 45 shots as the Bruins made it 4-0 (all close games) over the Senators this season; 13 wins in the last 14 games against Ottawa.
The one Ottawa win in those 14 games was a 1-0 Lehner shutout last season. He faced 46 shots in a 2-1 overtime loss first time in town this season and was outstanding Tuesday.
"It was a fun game to play and it was frustrating when you come up just short," Lehner said.
Horton scored for the fourth game in a row.
David Krejci (No. 9, plus an assist) and Tyler Seguin, 12 shots on goal, 12th goal of the year) also scored for the Bruins while Greening (No. 7) and Andre Benoit (No. 3) scored for the Senators, who continue to battle despite a slew of injuries.
The Benoit goal tied the game 1:55 into the third period; but no one knew it. When play stopped with 17:14 left, Toronto called, the play was reviewed, the goal counted and the clock was set back to 18:05.
The Bruins killed the final 32.3 seconds of the game a man down, with Johnny Boychuk in the penalty box. But a crunching check by Chara all but ended the game.
"I thought we should have played it on the Rideau Canal, a little bit of a river hockey game, which is not something you expect against the Boston Bruins," said Ottawa coach Paul MacLean. "But it ends up a one-goal game against. And again they win."
NOTES: To get Jagr, the Bruins parted with winger Lane McDermid, the rights to winger Cody Payne and a conditional second-round draft pick that becomes a first-rounder if the Bruins make the conference finals. "His career speaks for itself," said GM Peter Chiarelli. "He's a strong player, protects the puck well. It's consistent with our style in the sense that there's a cycle element to his game. He's good on the half-wall, really good release, shot. He's just a real good player." ... Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton left after throwing a check on Erik Condra in the third period but returned ... Kaspars Daugavins, claimed on waivers from Ottawa last week, skated in the warmup for Boston but didn't dress for the game. ... The teams are 1-2 in the NHL in penalty killing, the Bruins No. 1, and both teams went 3-for-3 on the kill. ... The Senators, starting a seven-game road trip, visit Buffalo and Florida Friday and Sunday. ... Seguin's 12 shots were the most by a Bruins since Bill Guerin had 12 Nov. 8, 2001. Seguin said Lehner knows his moves from juniors.
