Ullmark's 40 saves carry league-leading Bruins past Senators for 4th consecutive win
Boston posts 54th win, on pace to break Detroit's mark of 62 victories in 1995-96
Linus Ullmark made 40 saves, Jake DeBrusk had the go-ahead goal and the NHL-best Boston Bruins continued their pursuit of the league's record for regular-season victories with a 2-1 win over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
"I thought he was outstanding and he needed to be," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said of Ullmark. "Unfortunately we gave up a lot of good looks, a lot of odd-man rushes because of our puck management and he bailed us out like he has all year."
David Krejci added a power-play goal for Boston, which won its fourth straight. Dylan Gambrell scored for the Senators and Mads Sogaard made 33 stops.
The Bruins posted their 54th win and with 12 games left are on pace to break the mark of 62, set by the Detroit Red Wings in 1995-96 and matched by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018-19.
Chasing the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot, Ottawa has lost six of seven following a season-high, five-game winning streak.
WATCH l NHL-best Bruins take down Senators:
Coming off a 3-2 road trip where they won the last three games by a combined score of 15-2 that included two shutouts by backup Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins converted on a two-man, power-play advantage to tie the game at 1 midway into the opening period when Krejci poked in a rebound from the edge of the crease.
DeBrusk completed a nifty play with Brad Marchand when he collected a pass cutting down the slot at full speed, shifted and tucked a rebound past Sogaard at 15:52 of the first period for his 23rd goal.
Gambrell's wraparound score gave Ottawa a 1-0 edge.
"I thought I played a good game today," Sogaard said. "I just battled and stayed with it the entire way. ... These ones are tough because we were so close."
