OTTAWA, Ontario — In a game with plenty of swings of emotion and a ton of swings of anger, the Senators landed the knockout blow at Canadian Tire Centre.
Tim Stützle scored the lone goal in the shootout Saturday to give Ottawa a 6-5 win over the Bruins in a matinee that had the feel, intensity, and nastiness of a playoff game.
Stützle’s backbreaker capped a furious comeback by the Senators, who trailed, 5-3, with less than four minutes remaining.
The decision gave Ottawa (23-18-4) the extra point and allowed them to pull ahead of the Bruins (22-19-6) in the tight Atlantic Division, though each club has 50 points.
It was the Bruins’ first shootout of the season and just the second for the Senators. The clubs combined for six roughing penalties (including two double-minors), one fight, and a plethora of skirmishes.
Ottawa erased the two-goal deficit with Nick Jensen and Josh Norris connecting with the extra attacker. Norris’s equalizer beat Jeremy Swayman with just 12 ticks left in regulation.
“We didn’t execute well enough under their pressure when they had six-on-five,’’ said Bruins coach Joe Sacco. “We had an opportunity below the goal line there, on the fourth goal I think it was, and we weren’t able to get it out. We had a breakdown in our coverage in the slot. We had an opportunity to make it 6-3 and we didn’t put it in the back of the net on the other end, so we just have to be better at defending that lead at six-on-five. I don’t know really what else to say. I mean, we can’t give up slot chances like that.
“I give them credit. They were hungry, but we have to do a better job. We have to make sure that we get the puck out of our zone.’’
Swayman (39 saves) made three big stops in overtime, while the Bruins landed just one shot on Leevi Meriläinen (23 saves), who was beaten by Charlie Coyle — but the shot caromed off the crossbar.
Curiously, Brad Marchand, the Bruins’ second-leading scorer with 16 goals and 35 points, never saw the ice during the extra session. Sacco said Marchand wasn’t hurt; it was a coach’s decision.
Coyle, David Pastrnak, and Pavel Zacha couldn’t sneak their shootout attempts past Meriläinen.
The Bruins were outplayed in extended segments throughout the first period, particularly the first 10 minutes, but somehow erased a 2-0 deficit by the end of the stanza.
The Senators came out fully caffeinated, while the Bruins appeared to be searching for that second cup when the puck dropped. Ottawa consistently got behind the Boston defense for easy looks at Swayman.
Adam Gaudette put the Senators on the board when he slipped past Nikita Zadorov and posted up to Swayman’s right. Jensen flipped the puck in, and Claude Giroux redirected off Swayman’s pads right to the Northeastern product, who lifted a high backhander in at 1:47.
After Norris nearly doubled the lead with a wrister off the post, Stützle potted his 15th at 7:35.
“They had a good start and we didn’t. That’s obviously on us, can’t happen, especially in the games like this where this is a big game and we should be excited [because] big points are on the table,’’ said Pastrnak.
Norris went for roughing Coyle at 10:32, and that penalty shifted momentum for the rest of the period.
Pastrnak hit Zacha in the slot on the power play, and Zacha waited for Meriläinen to commit before calmly sliding a backhander in for his 11th of the season. Pastrnak tied it at 19:22 when he fielded a Morgan Geekie pass and sent a sizzler past Meriläinen’s glove for his 21st.
The Senators rookie goalie had given up just two goals in his last four games.
The second started with a bang when Brady Tkachuk sent Vinni Lettieri tuchus over tea kettle on the Bruins bench.
Not long after, Geekie gave the Bruins the lead by finishing one of the prettiest plays of the season. Pastrnak rushed in and hit the brakes before sending a backhand pass to Zacha in front. He in turn threw a backhand pass to Geekie, who roofed it for his 11th.
Things got hot as the Senators looked to cool the Bruins’ jets. After several scrums, Marchand was hit with a four-minute roughing minor, while his dance partner, Nick Cousins, was given just two.
The Senators made it hurt when Norris, between the circles, deflected Jake Sanderson’s blue-line offering past Swayman just 14 seconds into the man advantage.
Mark Kastelic helped set up Boston’s next goal when he won a faceoff back to Johnny Beecher, who curled outside the circles and sent one that handcuffed Meriläinen and trickled in for a 4-3 lead after two periods. It was Beecher’s third of the season and first since October.
Lettieri’s first as a Bruin bumped the Boston lead to 5-3 midway through the third before the successful Senators surge.
“We didn’t have the best start, but then I think we took over a little bit of momentum there and started doing a lot of good things on the forecheck and [keeping it] plain and simple, and then the execution started taking over,’’ said Lettieri. “But obviously disappointed that we didn’t get the 2 points.’’
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.
