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Savard, Thomas guide Bruins past Senators

Feb 1, 2008 - 4:58 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The All-Star Game may have passed, but Marc Savard and Tim Thomas proved their worth to the Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa Senators on Thursday.

Savard had a goal and an assist and Thomas made 30 saves as the Boston Bruins benefited from three first-period tallies and cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Senators.

Phil Kessel, rookie Milan Lucic and Chuck Kobasew also scored for Boston, which won for the fifth time in its last six games.

"It's always nice to come in here and contribute," said Savard, a native of Ottawa. "With seven regulars out, the others have come in and picked up the spots. It's nice to get help from everyone and we're happy with the two points."

"We took advantage of a couple of their mistakes and we were able to bury them," Thomas said. "We eventually rode that to victory."

Antoine Vermette netted a power-play goal in the third period for Ottawa, which has lost six of nine.

The Bruins got out of the blocks early, scoring 28 seconds into the contest.

Savard, who recorded the game-winning goal in the All-Star Game, extended his points streak to nine games by notching his NHL-leading 46th assist.

Savard cleanly won a faceoff in the offensive zone and passed the puck to Kessel, who wristed it past goaltender Martin Gerber for his 14th goal of the season.

"We knew they were struggling and we wanted to get on them early," Savard said. "I won the draw to Kessel, and he just fired it home. Then they gave Lucic a gift."

A participant in the YoungStars Game during All-Star Weekend in Atlanta, Lucic doubled the Bruins' advantage just over three minutes later, corralling the rebound of Kobasew's shot and beating Gerber at 3:18 for his sixth tally of the campaign.

"We gave up two turnovers, and both of them found the back of the net," Senators All-Star Jason Spezza said. "When you get down early, it's hard to come back."

Savard gave Boston a three-goal edge at 8:21, when he intercepted a pass in the slot by Dean McAmmond and wristed the puck past Gerber for his 13th goal.

Vermette foiled Thomas' shutout bid midway through the third period, but that was all the Senators could muster against the All-Star Game's winning netminder.

"There were some lucky saves that made it look easy," Thomas said. "As far as effort goes, I did see everyone in front of me putting it all out to get the win. That made it easy."

Kobasew added an empty-netter with 23 seconds remaining to seal the win. The 25-year-old has scored five of the Bruins' nine goals against the Senators this season.

"The group acknowledges that everyone played well," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We were doing the right things, but we haven't had the luxury to play with big leads. It's an area we can improve on."

The Senators were playing without captain Daniel Alfredsson, who aggravated a hip injury in Ottawa's 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday. The 35-year-old Swede also is expected to miss Saturday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.