BOSTON — Dave Cameron had to wait a few extra minutes to earn his first victory as an NHL coach.
The Ottawa Senators wound up with the win Saturday when Bobby Ryan and Mikka Zibanjad scored in a shootout to beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 Saturday.
Cameron took over the team after Paul MacLean was fired Monday. The Senators lost to Los Angeles 5-3 Thursday night in Cameron’s debut.
"You know you’re in the business of winning. It’s a case where you’re preaching a certain style of play, and until you get that first win, there’s probably always a bit of doubt or maybe a little bit of grey area, whether it works or does work," he said. "So it was great to get the win, for sure."
The Bruins took a 2-1 lead into the third period but Ottawa tied it with 15:43 left when David Legwand put home Kyle Turris’ rebound while Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was in the penalty box.
"Davey’s done a good job," Legwand said. "He’s come in here, and we wanted to win and get that monkey off his back, and this is a good place to do it."
Zibanjad also scored in regulation as Ottawa sent the Bruins to their fifth loss in six games.
Boston is minus-two in goal differential this season and lagging near the bottom of the NHL in scoring.
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"We’re obviously struggling to score goals and we continue to see that from our hockey club, but there’s a lot of things in our game that could be better," Bruins coach Claude Julien said.
Chara played his second game since missing 19 because of an injury. Julien sat Chara in overtime, although he said the team was not "blaming" him.
"My job is to get to that performance where I need to be as soon as I can, as quick as I can," Chara said.
Both teams had chances in overtime. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask made a pad save on Erik Karlsson and then foiled Ryan’s breakaway, and Ottawa goaltender Robin Lehner gloved Dougie Hamilton’s high drive.
The Bruins scored while short-handed in the first period when Chara flipped the puck past two Ottawa players to a streaking Craig Cunningham, who beat Lehner between his legs for his first career NHL goal.
"Obviously, it’s always good to get your first one," Cunningham said. "The first goal you always remember, but in the end it didn’t really matter tonight."
Julien said he liked "everything" about Cunningham’s play. "He skated well, you know, he competes hard. All things that we know about him."
Zibanjad tied it early in the second with his eighth goal.
Loui Eriksson put the Bruins ahead midway through the period when he took a beautiful feed from Kevan Miller directly in front of a helpless Lehner for his fifth goal of the season.
Ottawa outshot Boston 15-7 in the second period, which also featured a spirited brawl between Boston’s Milan Lucic and Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki.
Notes: Cameron’s only previous head coaching experience was with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators from 2004-2007. … Negotiations have started to bring the Winter Classic back to Boston in 2016, according to media reports. The Bruins hosted the outdoor event in 2010 and it’s unknown whether the NHL could return to Fenway Park or consider another option such as Gillette Stadium. … Cunningham’s first NHL goal was the Bruins’ third short-handed score of the season and the fourth Ottawa has allowed.
