BOSTON – Coach Claude Julien wasn’t happy that his Bruins allowed 47 shots on goal. Fortunately, his team took a season-high 50.

And their 46th, Nathan Horton’s tie-breaking goal midway through the third period, gave them a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators with an uncommonly aggressive attack Tuesday night.

“It was good to see our team offensively create some chances because that’s an area where we struggled,” Julien said, but “I thought that we were very soft defensively.”

The Bruins didn’t wait for five-time NHL scoring leader Jaromir Jagr to show up to improve their offense. Hours after obtaining him from the Dallas Stars, the Bruins shook off their recent offensive woes with their second straight win after losing five of their previous seven games.

“There’s no doubt he’s going to help us,” Julien said. “He’s coming to help us. He’s not coming to save us and that’s what people have to understand. He’s a great player. He still is a great player.”

At 41, Jagr is far past his peak but still should help the Bruins’ weak power play and add to their overall offense.

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They had enough on Tuesday without him.

“We wanted to put pucks on net,” said Tyler Seguin, who did that 12 times.

Horton got his 12th goal of the season at 10:21 of the third after goalie Robin Lehner stopped Milan Lucic’s shot with his pad. But Horton scored on the rebound.

Jagr is expected in time for Thursday night’s home game against New Jersey.

The Bruins’ previous season high for shots was 46 on Feb. 28, also against the Senators, in a 2-1 overtime win. Boston is 4-0 against Ottawa this season with every win coming by one goal.

“That’s the frustrating part for us,” Senators Coach Paul MacLean said. “We responded well after being down 2-1. We get the thing tied up. But when it’s all said and done, they got one more than we did. Again.”

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The Bruins outshot the Senators 21-19 in the first period, their most shots in a period since they had 22 on Feb. 19, 2012, at Minnesota.

“Both teams did a lot of good things offensively,” Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson said, “but we were sloppy with the puck. There were a lot of turnovers from both sides.”

The pace slowed for a while in the third period after Andre Benoit tied the score 2-2 with 1:55 gone following an officials’ review. Play had continued after Benoit’s hard, high shot. At the next whistle, officials ruled that the puck had gone in just under the crossbar then come out, resulting in Benoit’s third goal of the season.

“I wasn’t happy with that,” Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin said, “but, still, it doesn’t matter. We got the W.”

Colin Greening had given Ottawa a 1-0 lead 2:48 into the game before goals by David Krejci and Seguin 1:01 apart put Boston ahead 2-1 at 4:29 of the first period.

 


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