Senators school Bruins

OTTAWA -- Playing a club higher in the standings is usually a test of where a team stands.

Last night, the Bruins flunked their challenge against the unbeaten Ottawa Senators, badly. Boston was beaten soundly, 5-1, by the Senators' relentless offensive attack, their aggressive penalty killing, and their superior goaltending. The loss ended Boston's winning streak at three games.

The only good news was that defenseman Nick Boynton returned to the lineup after agreeing to a one-year contract Thursday. Coach Mike Sullivan elected to dress seven defensemen to ease Boynton into the mix. Boynton, who finished a minus-2 and played 18 minutes 13 seconds in his first NHL game in 18 months, acknowledged a tough reentry.

He wasn't the only one who got roughed up. As much as the Bruins were missing their top two centers -- captain Joe Thornton and Alexei Zhamnov, both home because of injuries, the offense they were able to generate was quashed by Ottawa goalie Dominik Hasek. Boston's top line of Sergei Samsonov, Patrice Bergeron, and Glen Murray generated 12 shots but came up empty.

The Senators have what is arguably the deepest club in the NHL and the Bruins couldn't match them. Ottawa improved to 5-0-0 while Boston drops to 3-3-0.

''They're a good team, they've got a lot of offensive weapons," said Sullivan. ''We knew going in that we had to stay out of the penalty box and we didn't do it well enough. We got down early. I thought we had a strong first period and five on five, we carried the play. We made a couple of mistakes and they capitalized and they're a tough team once they get the lead."

The Bruins squandered a golden opportunity to get on the scoreboard early in the first period when they couldn't convert during a two-man advantage that lasted for 1 minute 40 seconds.

Instead, it was the Senators who cashed in on special teams. Ottawa took the lead on a power-play goal by Chris Neil at 11:15. With defenseman Hal Gill off for interference, the always-dangerous Daniel Alfredsson deked over the blue line, drove to the left circle, and fed a shot through the slot to Neil, charging toward the right post. Neil beat goalie Andrew Raycroft for his third goal of the season.

Samsonov had a chance at 13:36 when he fired a shot from the left circle but it caromed off the far post and bounced away.

Less than two minutes later, the Senators boosted their lead to 2-0. Left wing Martin Havlat gained the blue line and backhanded a pass through traffic to center Antoine Vermette in the slot. He beat Raycroft at 15:30 for his second of the season.

The Bruins' fortunes only got worse in the middle period as the Senators doubled their lead. At 11:44, it went to three goals when defenseman Brian Pothier took a shot from the right point. Raycroft made the initial stop but the puck was loose in front and right wing Dany Heatley managed a couple of whacks at it. The Bruins couldn't clear it and Brandon Bochenski put it away.

The Senators' fourth goal came just over a minute later. Havlat was battling defenseman Ian Moran in the left circle. Havlat dropped to his knees but managed to keep control of the puck. He got back up and backhanded a pass to defenseman Anton Volchenkov, who beat Raycroft at 12:59.

Sullivan elected to give Raycroft the hook after 32:59 and four goals on 24 shots, replacing him with Hannu Toivonen.

''Obviously, things weren't going our way," said the coach. ''It was by no means a reflection on his performance. The goals they got were good goals. We just needed a boost and sometimes, when you make a change like that, you give your team a lift."

Instead of a lift, the Bruins dug themselves a deeper hole. Former Bruin Bryan Smolinski made it a rout with a shot from the high slot at 2:01 of the third that eluded Toivonen. Pat Leahy scored Boston's only goal on a second effort at the 3-minute mark, but it was far too little, far too late, as the Bruins were hampered by penalties (seven in all) during the rest of the game.

''If you make mistakes, especially with your possession [of] the puck, they can make you pay," said Sullivan. ''They have some guys who can really put the puck in the net. Once again, special teams were without question a factor. We just can't take that many penalties and expect to win against a team like Ottawa."