Washington (AFP) – Clarke MacArthur scored a power-play goal 6:30 into overtime to give Ottawa a 3-2 victory Sunday at Boston that advanced the Senators into the second round of the National Hockey League playoffs.
Ottawa won the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series 4-2 and booked a second-round showdown against the New York Rangers, who ousted Montreal in round one.
MacArthur only returned to the Senators on April 4 after an 18-month absence following a concussion suffered in October 2015 against Columbus.
The 32-year-old left wing missed 156 games and played only four regular season games this month but netted two precious goals in six playoff contests against Boston, the biggest the series winner.
The Senators won three games of the series in overtime on the way to capturing only their second playoff series triumph in a decade.
Boston’s Drew Stafford opened the scoring with a power-play goal just 1:47 before the end of the first period.
But Ottawa answered in the second period, Bobby Ryan tipping in the equalizer on the power play just 3:26 into the period and Kyle Turris netting his first goal of the sires just 5:06 later to give the Senators the lead.
The Bruins answered 1:57 into the third period on Patrice Bergeron’s wrist shot, pulling Boston level at 2-2.
Washington carries a 3-2 series lead into a later game Sunday at Toronto in the only first-round matchup still ongoing. The Capitals had the NHL’s best record this season while the Maple Leafs only reached the playoffs in the final weekend of the campaign.
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