Bruins Shut Down Senators

First place in the Eastern Conference will mean nothing to the Ottawa Senators in the post-season if they can't find a way to beat the Boston Bruins at home.

Dmitri Khristich, Landon Wilson and Jason Allison scored on consecutive shots and goaltender Byron Dafoe made 28 saves for his eighth shutout this season as the Bruins beat the Senators 3-0 Wednesday night.

The Bruins, 3-0-1 in their last four and 9-3-2 in their last 14, solidified their hold on eighth place in the East and moved within three points of Buffalo for seventh. Buffalo lost 2-1 at Detroit.

The Senators lost for the first time in four games and had their seven-game home winning streak come to an end. Ottawa remained four points ahead of idle New Jersey atop the East.

Boston now is a franchise 14-2-0 at Ottawa and won the season series 3-2 for the sixth time in seven seasons.

"We certainly get up for the Senators," said Bruins coach Pat Burns. "We don't have much of a chance to win if their skill players are on top of their game."

It was Ottawa's first game since a six-game, 11-day road trip that ended in St. Louis on Saturday.

"It was a case of us not playing our best game," said Senators defenseman Jason York. "We went pretty good in spurts, but we didn't play our usual strong game."

Dafoe was excellent when neededmaking spectacular saves on Shawn McEachern in the second period and Radek Bonk in the third to preserve the shutout.

"Things were just going well," Dafoe said. "I felt great out there."

He also got a little help when York, Bill Berg and Ted Donato all hit posts.

"It seems like every time we play them, whoever has the hottest goaltender and wins the specialty teams, wins the game," said Ottawa coach Jacques Martin.

Khristich scored at 18:53 of the second period on a power play off a pass from captain Ray Bourque. The goal was his 28th.

Byron Dafoe kept the Senators off the board. (AP)

Allison scored at 3:30 of the second on the Bruins' next shot when he was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down by York on a breakaway. Allison made two moves and put a backhander over goalie Ron Tugnutt's outstretched right pad for his 22nd.

"I've played with Ron before," said Allison. "I've had success with that deke."

York felt the penalty call was not deserved.

"I felt I caught him," York said. "He made it look pretty good."

Just 39 seconds later, on Boston's next shot, Wilson chipped the puck over a prone Tugnutt for his second goal of the season.

The game was Donato's first for Ottawa since being acquired from the New York Islanders for a fourth-round draft pick last weekend. The former Bruin started the game on a line with Vaclav Prospal and Bruce Gardiner.

"I had a couple of good chances," said Donato. "But I don't think that's that best game I can play. I know I can play better. I can help out more."

The Bruins killed off all five Ottawa power plays and have not surrendered a goal in their last 30 short-handed situations.

"It seemed like every time we made a mistake, the puck went in the net," said Tugnutt. "They play the same way every night. They wait for you to make a mistake.

"We said it before the game. We can't give them goals, we had to make them earn it."

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