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Leaving it Late: Seidenberg scores with 64 seconds left as Bruins clip Sens 2-1

OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators should know better than to ever let up against the Boston Bruins.

Dennis Seidenberg scored on a seeing-eye shot with 64 seconds left in regulation Thursday as Boston came back to defeat Ottawa 2-1.

The winner came after Boston's Patrice Bergeron won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to Zdeno Chara. The Bruins captain then fed Seidenberg, whose shot from the blue-line found its way through a maze of players and past Senators goalie Robin Lehner.

"At the end of the second period and at the end of the game we stopped playing for a little bit and that ends up being the difference in the game," said Senators coach Paul MacLean. "Against the Boston Bruins you have to play the whole game."

Daniel Paille also scored for the Bruins (20-6-3), who got 27 stops from backup goalie Anton Khudobin.

Kaspars Daugavins had the lone goal for the Senators (16-9-6), who saw a three-game winning streak come to an end.

Lehner made 27 saves in taking the loss.

"We wanted to take two points away, but live and learn," said Lehner. "It came down to one goal and we just need to be on the other side of that goal."

The Senators haven't defeated the Bruins at Scotiabank Place since April 7, 2009. Boston has also taken 12 of the last 13 encounters overall, including the first three this season.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara isn't sure why the Bruins enjoy so much success in Ottawa, but says it's not something the team thinks about.

"The way we look at it, it's just another game and we want to win," said Chara, who spent four seasons with the Senators earlier in his career. "It was a hard fought game and they competed extremely hard. It was one of those games that any play could decide the result of the game and it happened for us."

After an uneventful first period, Daugavins opened the scoring at 4:55 of the second with his first goal of the season on a shot from the side boards that beat Khudobin high.

Daugavins was the talk of the NHL for his ringette-style spin-o-rama move that failed to connect in the shootout when the two teams last met on March 11.

His goal on Thursday ignited the 19,603 on hand, but the crowd was deflated after Paille beat Lehner with just over one minute remaining in the period.

The Senators had a couple of great chances to regain the lead in the dying seconds, but Khudobin made a couple of solid stops to keep the score tied.

"For the first two periods we had our share of problems," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "In the morning I had asked the players to work hard and to find ways to work through things. I think we did that and I thought our third period was good and we want to build off that third period."

With an assist on Daugavins' goal, Sergei Gonchar extended his point streak to nine games. He also set a new franchise record for defencemen with assists in nine straight games.

Gonchar was injured late in the third period and MacLean said he would evaluated over night but added he wasn't overly concerned.

Losing Gonchar for any period of time would be another huge blow to the injury plagued Senators, who are already coping without a number of key players and lost of defenceman Marc Methot to a leg injury on Tuesday.

"Hopefully it's nothing too serious," said Senators defenceman Chris Phillips. "You know to pile it on top of other injuries that we already have, but we'll see what we're dealt with (Friday) and move on with or without him. We have to and hopefully it's not long."

After missing the last eight games with a concussion, defenceman Mike Lundin returned to the lineup for Ottawa to replace Methot.

Thursday's game marked the first in a five-game homestand for the Senators. Ottawa hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon.

Notes: Senators C Jim O'Brien was a healthy scratch. Ottawa was also without G Craig Anderson (ankle sprain, indefinite), LW Dave Dziurzynski (concussion, indefinite), D Erik Karlsson (Achilles, out for the season), C Jason Spezza (upper body injury, indefinite), LW Milan Michalek (knee, indefinite) and D Jared Cowen (hip, out for the season). ... Bruins C Ryan Spooner played his first NHL game in his hometown for the Bruins. ... Boston was without C Chris Kelly (broken tibia, indefinite) and D Adam McQuaid (shoulder, three weeks). C Rich Peverley and LW Lane MacDermid were healthy scratches for the Bruins.

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