They accomplished their mission, knocking off the Senators, 4-2, at the FleetCenter.
That, coupled with a loss by the Toronto Maple Leafs (tomorrow night's opponent), gives the Bruins a little bit of breathing room atop the division. They lead the Leafs by 3 points.
Coach Mike Sullivan has been harping on his club about its coming out sluggish and allowing the opponent to set the tone, particularly on home ice. That didn't happen in this one. Boston was sharp from start to finish.
"I thought that was one of the best 60-minute efforts we've had all year," said Sullivan, not prone to overstatement. "We played against a really good hockey team that played hard. I thought our guys from the drop of the puck were ready to play."
Rookie netminder Andrew Raycroft, who made 28 saves on the way to his 27th victory, said it was a significant confidence booster.
"I think it's important for these teams to know they're going to be in a battle with us," said Raycroft. "We didn't really play well the last two times up in Ottawa and the last time back here, and they kind of took it to us. We had that in the back of our minds. We know how it works and we wanted to come out with a good effort just to put it in their minds if we have to play them."
Travis Green (four goals in four games) potted his 10th of the season at 4:45 of the first. Dan McGillis dished a pass to Green, who skated through center ice and teed up a slapper from the blue line. His blast hit Ottawa defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn and caromed off the back boards to the left of netminder Patrick Lalime. The puck bounced out in front and Lalime mishandled it, and Green swooped in and jammed it one-handed into the net at the right post.
Boston increased its lead to a pair at 7:03 of the second when Sergei Samsonov completed a give-and-go with Glen Murray for his first goal since coming back from a rib injury (No. 12 of the year). With only defenseman Greg de Vries back, Samsonov dished a shot to Murray in the right circle. Murray passed it right back to him and he wristed the puck past Lalime to make it 2-0.
"It was a long shift," said Samsonov. "I was just trying to make sure we scored because there was no way I was coming back. Glen made a nice play."
