Stützle's early two-goal burst sends Senators past Bruins 4-1 at TD Garden

Boston was chasing before the first intermission

The opening swing came fast and it came from one player. Stützle opened the scoring at 7:39 of the first on a snap shot set up by Michael Amadio, then struck again unassisted at 9:22. In less than two minutes, Ottawa had turned a scoreless start into a 2-0 cushion and handed Boston the kind of early deficit that changes the rest of the night.

What followed was not a game decided by overwhelming volume. The Senators finished with 24 shots to Boston's 19, and the physical counts were nearly even at 32 hits for Ottawa and 31 for the Bruins. Faceoffs were just as close, with Boston edging the split at 50.8 per cent. The difference was simpler than that: Ottawa finished first, and Boston spent the evening trying to recover.

The Bruins never found a first- or second-period answer. Their period line stayed at zeroes through 40 minutes, while Ottawa's two-goal first became a four-goal lead before the game reached its midpoint. Boston also hurt itself with 21 giveaways, seven more than Ottawa, and that left little room for a comeback once the score got away early.

Batherson and Amadio buried the margin in the second

Any hope that the first intermission might slow Ottawa disappeared 66 seconds into the second period. Drake Batherson pushed the lead to 3-0 at 1:06 with a backhand finish, and Stützle picked up the assist to give himself a hand in three of Ottawa's first three goals.

Amadio added the fourth at 5:19 of the second, finishing a play created by Shane Pinto and Nick Cousins. That sequence mattered because it stretched Ottawa's lead to four before Boston could put a puck behind either of the Senators' goaltenders. By then, the scoring pattern had become clear: when Ottawa got its openings, it converted them.

Stützle's final line set the tone for the visitors. He finished with two goals and an assist, while Amadio supplied a goal and an assist of his own. Batherson added the third goal, and Pinto and Cousins each chipped in helpers. Ottawa did not score on any of its four power plays, but it still won comfortably because its decisive work came in open play and because Boston's special teams offered no rescue at the other end.

Our take: Ottawa was efficient, while Boston wasted its chances to reset the game

Boston finally got on the board at 3:30 of the third period when James Hagens scored on an unassisted snap shot. It trimmed the deficit to 4-1, but only after the Bruins had spent two periods buried under the damage from the first 25 minutes. Hagens' goal stood as Boston's only breakthrough, and the Bruins finished the night without an assist.

Ottawa's crease management was unusual on paper and effective in practice. Samuel Ersson stopped eight of the nine shots he faced in 19:56, and Linus Ullmark handled the remaining 40:00 without allowing a goal, turning aside all 10 shots he saw. Combined with 10 blocked shots in front of them, that was enough to keep Boston to a single goal on 19 shots overall.

If Boston is looking for the fastest explanation, special teams belong near the top. The Bruins went 0-for-4 on the power play and, by the team totals, allowed one short-handed goal. Ottawa's power play also went 0-for-4, so this was not a night of man-advantage execution by either side. The difference was that the Senators had already created separation at five-on-five and protected it, while Boston never used its four power plays to change the shape of the game.

For Ottawa, this was a measured road win built on sequence and finish rather than statistical domination. The teams were close in shots, hits and faceoffs. The scoreboard was not. Stützle's quick double gave the Senators the game state they wanted, Batherson and Amadio widened it in the second, and Boston's response arrived far too late to matter.

Scoring moments

1. 1st · 7:39

   Tim Stützle Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Michael Amadio (1)

2. 1st · 9:22

   Tim Stützle Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: none

3. 2nd · 1:06

   Drake Batherson Goal (1) Backhand, assists: Tim Stützle (2)

4. 2nd · 5:19

   Michael Amadio Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Shane Pinto (2), Nick Cousins (1)

5. 3rd · 3:30

   James Hagens Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: none