Bruins' offense fizzles out in 3-2 overtime loss to Senators

BOSTON — Round 1 of the goalie battle between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark went to the Ottawa Senators and Ullmark on Saturday night at TD Garden.

Ullmark can thank his old Bruin teammates for that.

In a 2-2 game, the Bruins got zero shots on net in the third period and then, after forcing Ullmark to make one great save in overtime on a 2-on-1 on Elias Lindholm, Brady Tkachuk beat Swayman on a 2-on-1 just 21 seconds into OT.

Ullmark was the center of attention as soon as he stepped onto the ice for warmups. After getting a sizable cheer from the Garden fans who’d come in early, he skated to the red line for a muted hug with his old buddy Jeremy Swayman, then the two posed for team photographer Steve Babineau for a quick shot.

In the first TV timeout, the B’s gave Ullmark the customary video tribute on the Jumbotron and the netminder glided out to the middle of the blue line to show his appreciation.

As for the hockey in the opening 20 minutes, it was rerun of much of the season for the B’s — they lost the special teams battle and went down 1-0 in the waning seconds of the period. The B’s were sloppy on their breakouts, committing eight giveaways. The Sens also owned the faceoff circle, winning 17 of 23 draws.

But both Ullmark and Swayman looked locked in for the anticipated battle as they had to make a couple of good saves.

The game tilted in the Senators’ favor late in the period. The B’s got the first power play when Tkachuk slashed Charlie McAvoy but the B’s could not solve Ullmark.

When the Sens got their chance after Lindholm interfered with Josh Norris at 18:27, Norris made them pay. Tkachuk made a great pass from the corner through Nikita Zadorov’s skates to an open Norris just below the right circle. He picked the top far corner and beat Swayman with 7.8 seconds left in the period.

The B’s started the second period with a painful blast from the past — a too many men penalty, their first of the season. But they were able to kill that off and then get to Ullmark for a pair of goals in 15 seconds.

The first one came at 4:51 on a good keep-in from Zadorov, who got the puck down low to David Pastrnak, who dished to Pavel Zacha in the slot and, with an Ottawa defender on him, he did a spin-o-rama and beat Ullmark with a backhander.

On the next shift, Hampus Lindholm took the puck to the net and got off a shot that Ullmark stopped but Justin Brazeau knifed his way into a pile of bodies. He tapped it over to Brad Marchand on the right side and the captain buried it.

The action was up and down for much of the period after that. The B’s had to kill off Zadorov’s 12th minor of the year and had a couple of great scoring chances that never made it the net. Marchand and McAvoy couldn’t connect on a 2-on-1 and then Pastrnak’s pass to Mark Kastelic on a 3-on-1 was just off.

The blown chances came back to haunt when the Sens tied it at 17:16 on what looked like a nothing play. The B’s had players back on an Ottawa rush but the bulky Zadorov threw a flash screen in front of Swayman and Michael Amadio scored on a shortside wrister.

The B’s got a late power play but, dead set against shooting the puck, they didn’t capitalize.