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Paille leads Bruins past Senators

Dec 15, 2011 - 4:53 AM Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - Daniel Paille netted a pair of goals, leading the Boston Bruins to a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place.

Rich Peverley and Patrice Bergeron both had a goal and an assist, while Chris Kelly also lit the lamp for the Bruins, who have won six consecutive games against the Senators dating back to last season. Tim Thomas stopped 47 shots for the victors.

"Eventually we saw a crack in the third period and we're able to take advantage," said Boston head coach Claude Julien. "But, let's not kid ourselves here, we really didn't deserve to win this one here."

Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson both had a goal and an assist for the Senators, who played without the league's top goal scorer, Milan Michalek. He suffered a concussion in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres.

"It was a few bounces that were right there for us and they bounced over our sticks," said Alfredsson. "And when we did get them on our sticks, Thomas made the stops."

Craig Anderson was tagged for all five goals on 29 shots. Ottawa has lost four of its last five contests.

Boston struck first at 12:10 of the opening period when Peverley picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone on the right wing, maneuvered to the high slot and snapped off a quick wrist shot that beat Anderson to the stick side to give the Bruins the 1-0 lead.

Ottawa responded to tie the game at 4:23 of the second stanza when Spezza brought the puck into the offensive zone on the left wing and found a cutting Alfredsson, who ripped it past Thomas from the slot.

Boston had an answer at 13:47 of the second period when Johnny Boychuk fired a shot from the right point through traffic that was stopped by Anderson. He left the rebound right out in front and Kelly, the former Senator, was on the doorstep to bang it home, giving the Bruins a 2-1 edge.

An errant pass led to the Bruins' third goal of the game, at 4:54 of the third period.

Alfredsson sent the puck back into his defensive zone from the neutral zone for Erik Karlsson, but the pass hit off the skate of Karlsson and sat in the zone before Bergeron picked it up, deked twice and slid it past a helpless Anderson.

Boston struck again just 56 seconds later when Paille got a pass from Shawn Thornton at the Senators' blue line and went in on a breakaway, beating the Sens' netminder through the five-hole to make it 4-1.

Spezza added a tally for the Sens with 4:05 to go in regulation when he got a pass in the left circle from Chris Phillips and wristed it past Thomas to make it 4-2.

The Bruins iced the game with 1:04 to play when Paille raced down the left wing and blasted one over the right shoulder of Anderson for his second goal of the night.

Game Notes

The Senators are 1-3 this season when wearing their alternate home jerseys...Kelly's goal was his 200th NHL point...Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara missed his second consecutive game with a groin injury...Bergeron snapped an eight-game goalless drought...Boston is 9-2-0 against Northeast Division opponents this season...Ottawa failed to convert on five power-play opportunities, while Boston did not have any power play chances in the game.