Bruins 3, Senators 1: Ryan Spooner recorded two goals - the second and third of his career - as visiting Boston won a key Eastern Conference game over Ottawa.

Tuukka Rask celebrated his 28th birthday by making 39 saves - including 21 in the second period - and Loui Eriksson scored for the second consecutive game and third time in four contests as the Bruins won their third straight and are 5-0-1 in their last six. Milan Lucic registered his 200th career assist while defenseman Dougie Hamilton set up two goals for Boston, which increased its lead to six points over Florida for the final wild-card spot and stretched its advantage to seven over the Senators.

Matt Puempel scored his first career goal for Ottawa, which lost for the second time in its last 10 games (8-1-1). Craig Anderson stopped 19 shots in his second game since missing 17 with a hand injury as the Senators, who had their four-game home winning streak snapped.

Spooner opened the scoring at 1:02 of the second period when he accepted a feed from defenseman Torey Krug while standing alone in the right faceoff circle and beat Anderson 17 seconds after Ottawa's Marc Methot was sent off for hooking. Boston broke it open with two goals in 1:32 span of the second as Eriksson won a race to the puck in the Ottawa zone with Cody Ceci, poked it out of the defenseman's reach and collected the puck in the slot before sliding a shot past Anderson's right pad at 15:21.

After Rask robbed David Legwand and captain Erik Karlsson from close range 11 seconds apart, Lucic muscled his way toward the net and fed a one-handed pass to Spooner, who scored at the left post. Puempel, the 24th overall pick in 2011 who was playing in his seventh career game, spoiled Rask's shutout bid when he collected defenseman Patrick Wiercioch's shot off the end boards and deposited the puck into the net while standing at the left post at 8:30 of the third period.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Bruins LW Brad Marchand, who has a team-most 22 goals, had his four-game scoring streak snapped as Anderson denied his short-handed breakaway bid midway through the first period with a left-pad save. ... Spooner has three goals and four assists in his last six games. ... Rask improved to 7-2-2 versus Ottawa.