Greg Zanon's first goal of the season proved the decisive one as a short-handed Boston Bruins squad got a stellar performance in net from Anton Khudobin in his first start as a Bruin and held off the Ottawa Senators by a 3-1 score on Thursday night at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.
Benoit Pouliot and Milan Lucic also scored for Boston, which forced Ottawa to compete for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and the right to play the Bruins in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With Washington's win over Florida, the Capitals could still clinch seventh with a win and an Ottawa loss on Saturday.
Torey Krug got hit first career NHL point on Lucic's goal, which he had the secondary assist on.
Jason Spezza scored the lone goal for the Senators, who couldn't tilt the ice in their direction for any extended period of time.
Ottawa plays at New Jersey on Saturday. Washington plays at the New York Rangers