Here's a scary thought for the NHL: The Bruins don't need to be at their best to win. 

They weren’t satisfied with their performance Thursday night against the Senators. Over the course of a season, whether 82 games or a lockout edition, that’s going to happen.

Yet it seems in this season more than others in the past, when the B’s have those games where the chances aren’t either there or capitalized on, they’ve still got something to show for it. That was the case when the Bruins dug themselves out of a 3-0 deficit against the Rangers on Feb. 13 and it was the case once again Thursday, as the B’s, despite not having their legs and being frustrated by a surprisingly hot Ottawa team, picked up two points via an overtime win at TD Garden. 

Ottawa gave the Bruins a tough time, as Boston was challenged to gather particularly strong scoring chances against Robin Lehner due to the Senators keeping everything to the outside. Coming off a five-game road trip, the Bruins also failed to come out flying, making for a murky performance that could have yielded a loss were it not for a (cliché alert) killer instinct that has allowed the Bruins to get wins this season, one way or another. 

Patrice Bergeron, who scored the game-winner Thursday by redirecting a Dennis Seidenberg wrist shot past Lehner, has played for the Bruins since 2003. In his time with Boston, he can’t remember a team that was able to salvage wins as well as this squad. 

“We’ve shown a lot a character with that,” Bergeron said. “It’s something that we’ve got to keep going and be proud of. It’s something that’s important to have. I think right now, we have it.” 

As Claude Julien put it, there wasn’t a pretty goal the entire game between the two teams. It took a changeup from Nathan Horton past Lehner in the second and a trickling goal from Bergeron that was reviewed for the Bruins, while Jim O’Brien’s goal was the result of nobody clearing the puck out in front of Tuukka Rask.

The Senators’ goal, which broke up the Bruins’ streak of consecutive killed penalties at 27, could have been prevented. The play started with a long pass through the neutral zone to Kaspars Daugavins, who was stopped on a breakaway by Rask. Dugavins stuck with the play, throwing the puck in front from behind the net, and O’Brien tapped it in to tie the game.

Were it not for Rask, who came up with big saves in overtime and also stopped Kyle Turris on a partial breakaway following Horton’s goal, the Senators may have left Boston with a win. Yet the 25-year-old came through once again for the B’s in his fifth straight start, stopping 30 of 31 shots. 

The Bruins might not have been at their best Thursday, but between them sticking around and getting the performance they got from Rask, it was all enough to get two points. 

“At the end of the day it’s about results,” Claude Julien said. “We know we’re a better team, we know we can play better. We know we didn’t have our A-game, so you turn the page and say well done, as far as battling through it. 

“I’m certainly not criticizing our team for how they played because they still battled through. We didn’t have our legs, so it’s not because they didn’t want to, but certainly Saturday’s game I’m looking for our team to be better and hopefully we’ll have gotten into our groove at home.”

The win was Boston’s fifth straight, and it helps their standing in a rather deceiving playoff picture. They currently sit second in the division to the Canadiens because the Canadiens, who lead the Northeast with 29 points (Boston has 28) have played three more games, while the Senators (26 points) have played 21. 

The Bruins had a lighter schedule to begin with early on, and the postponing of their Feb. 9 game against the Lightning made it pretty much a sure thing that they wouldn’t be running away with the division early because they simply wouldn’t be playing enough games. 

The B’s. who have a tough stretch of four games in six days between Saturday and next Thursday, don’t mind not getting much credit from the standings due to their lack of games. Though they’re on pace to finish with the most points in the Eastern Conference, they can look at the standings, see that they’re fourth in the East, and stay motivated to get every win they can.  

“I think we know we're behind in games, and we knew we were going to be behind in games,” Chris Kelly said. “Our focus was to stay in the mix. We don't want to make those games in hand must-wins down the road, wishing we would have played harder at the start of the year, so that was just our focus.”