Sean Kuraly scored the first two goals of his NHL career on Friday night, including a game winner in double overtime as the Boston Bruins kept their season alive with a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Center in game five of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. The Bruins now trail the best of seven first round series 3-2.
Things didn’t look good early for the Bruins, as Marc Stone scored at 11:19 of the first period, and then Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored on a breakaway 30 seconds into the second to make it 2-0 Ottawa.
David Pastrnak scored just over eight minutes later to cut the lead to 2-1 on a beautiful pass from Brad Marchand. Kuraly then tied it at 17:05 with his first career goal. Kuraly was replacing the ineffective Ryan Spooner in the Bruins lineup. The teams went to the locker rooms tied 2-2 at the end of 40 minutes.
The teams would remain in a tie for the next 50 minutes and 19 seconds. Boston had what they thought was the game winning goal as Kuraly broke in on Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson in the first overtime. Kuraly made contact with Anderson and fell to the ice, as Noel Acciari would bat the loose puck into the net. But the play was reviewed and goaltender interference was called, keeping the game tied.
Kuraly would net the game winner at 10:19 of double overtime on a rebound from a point shot, backhanding the loose puck past an out of position Anderson.
Tuuka Rask was once again big in the Bruins net making 41 saves, several key ones when the Bruins still trailed 2-1, and also several in the overtime. Anderson played equally as well, and was the tough luck loser with 36 saves on the night. Neither team had success on the powerplay as Boston was 0-3, and Ottawa 0-5.
The Bruins will now attempt to tie the series in Game 6 back at TD Garden in Boston on Sunday, with puck drop scheduled for 3 p.m. No Bruins team has ever come back to win a playoff series when trailing 3 games to 1.
