OTTAWA (AP) -- Dominik Hasek didn't care about losing his bid for a
shutout. He was more concerned with getting his 300th win.
Hasek became the 23rd goalie in NHL history to reach the milestone,
making 34 saves Saturday night in the Ottawa Senators' 5-1 win over the
Boston Bruins.
The 39-year-old Hasek, 4-0 in his first season with Ottawa, is
300-192-82 in 14 seasons with Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit and the
Senators. He was working on a shutout until Patrick Leahy jammed in a
loose puck 3:00 into the third period.
"I'm not disappointed about the shutout," Hasek said. "I was more
focused on the win and putting the 300th win behind me. I don't know if
we've deserved to win every game but we've always found a way to win
and that's what's important."
Chris Neil, Antoine Vermette, Brandon Bochenski, Anton Volchenkov and
Brian Smolinski scored for the Senators, who improved to 5-0-0 this
season.
The Bruins, who opened the season with two losses, had their three-game
winning streak snapped.
Just 59 seconds before Leahy scored for the Bruins, Smolinski scored
his first goal of the season when his shot from the slot got past Hannu
Toivonen to make it 5-0.
Toivonen, who replaced Andrew Raycroft in the second period after the
fourth Ottawa goal, made several big stops during the Senators'
extended 5-on-3 power play in the third.
Bruins coach Mike Sullivan said he made the switch 13 minutes into the
second period to try and and some jump to his team.<
"Things weren't going our way and it certainly wasn't a reflection of
(Raycroft's) performance," Sullivan said. "I thought we just needed a
boost. I thought (Toivonen) did pretty well to be thrown into the fire
like that, and against Ottawa who is one of the hottest teams in the
league. He's certainly a competitive guy and he battles every minute
he's out there."
The Bruins also had a 5-on-3 that lasted 1:40 in the first period, but
they never really tested Hasek.
"One of the important things was when it was 0-0 and we killed the
5-on-3 and they didn't score. We scored after and it's always better if
you score the first goal," Hasek said.
The Senators finished 1-for-7 on power plays, while Boston was 0-for-5.
Volchenkov got his first goal and first point of the season 13 minutes
into the second period to give the Senators a 4-0 lead. Martin Havlat
made a nice play on a delayed penalty call to set up the goal. After
being hooked, Havlat recovered his balance, spun away from the Bruins
defender and delivered a cross-ice backhand pass to Volchenkov whose
one-timer beat Raycroft.
A little more than a minute earlier, Bochenski scored the first goal of
his NHL career when he banged a loose puck beyond Raycroft who had made
two initial stops.
The Senators led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Neil and
Vermette less than 4 minutes apart. Neil scored his third of the year
as he chipped a shot over a fallen Raycroft while the Senators were on
a power play at 11:15.
Vermette scored his second of the season at 15:30 as his snap shot from
30-feet out got over Raycroft's glove.