Bruins down and out

KANATA, Ontario - It's hard enough to match up against the conference-best Senators when you have five skaters on the ice.

It's even harder when you have only four.

The Bruins were whistled for three hooking penalties last night - one each on P.J. Axelsson, Marco Sturm, and Marc Savard. Each time, the Senators put a puck past Tim Thomas, claiming a 3-2 win before 19,939 at Scotiabank Place for their Eastern Conference-leading 11th win of the season.

"There's a reason they're [11-1]," said Thomas. "They're a tough team to play against. Do I think we could have done a better job? Yes. I think everybody on the team would agree with that. It was not the best game we've played this year."

The Senators could have grabbed last night's win by more than one goal. But Thomas, making his fourth straight start, sparkled amid the 45-shot assault, stopping point-blank shots that should have ended up in his net.

"Timmy was the reason we were still in the game tonight. There's no doubt about that," said coach Claude Julien, who voiced his frustration at the inconsistency of the whistle-blowing by referees Stephane Auger and Mike Hasenfratz. "We gave up a lot of scoring chances and he stood tall in net for us and gave us a chance."

Ottawa was without No. 1 center Jason Spezza (groin), who signed a seven-year, $49 million extension Friday. But Spezza's absence - ex-Bruin Randy Robitaille slotted into the top-line center spot between Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson - didn't slow down the Senators, who played with some jam to complement their high skill level.

With the score tied at 2 in the third period, gritty forward Mike Fisher, hovering around the net all night long, netted the winner. While Savard sat in the penalty box, defenseman Joe Corvo ripped off a slapper that Thomas stopped. But Fisher found some open space in the slot and pounced on the puck, dumping the rebound under Thomas's right armpit at 13:49, prompting the goalie to swipe the rubber out of his net in disgust.

It was the fifth power-play goal the Bruins had allowed in the last two games (Ottawa went 3 for 6 last night while Buffalo scored on two of its three man-advantage opportunities Thursday night). It was a particularly disappointing goal to give up because a point of emphasis has been to gum up the slot during opposing power plays and force shots to the outside.

"That guy open in the slot on the power play is something we're going to have to take a look at," said Thomas, who most likely will get his fifth consecutive start in tonight's rematch at TD Banknorth Garden.

The Bruins, trailing, 1-0, after the first period (Fisher netted a down-low power-play goal off a rebound at 4:16), stormed back to take a 2-1 lead in the second period, as Chuck Kobasew scored both goals. The right wing got his first shortly after a power play expired after Zdeno Chara rushed the puck up the ice and deep into the Ottawa zone. Chara sent a backhand pass along the end boards to Kobasew, who walked the puck out of the left corner and crashed the net, beating goalie Martin Gerber (17 saves) to tie the game.

Less than four minutes later, Kobasew netted his second goal. Kobasew, handling the puck in the Ottawa zone, sent a pass to the point for Andrew Alberts, who whipped a one-timer on goal. The shot didn't get through, but hit Sturm in front. Sturm backhanded a pass to Kobasew, who took advantage of some open ice to sneak a shot through Gerber at 4:50. It was Kobasew's fifth goal of the season.

But Heatley rattled home one of his trademark one-timers to tie the game at 10:14 of the second. With Sturm in the box, power-play quarterback Wade Redden, controlling the puck at the left point, slid a cross-ice pass to Heatley at the right circle.

Alberts was cheating to Heatley's side and Thomas had anticipated the pass as well, starting his slide from right to left. But Heatley, one of the NHL's most accurate sharpshooters, buzzed a rising one-timer over Thomas for the tying strike.

"Our penalty kill has to get better," Julien said. "It's been a bit of an issue, especially in the past week. With [Patrice] Bergeron being hurt, that takes away one of our best penalty-killers. It's an issue we have to rectify. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that before [tonight]."