Brady Tkachuk’s goal just 21 seconds into overtime, following a 2-on-1 break-in, gave the Ottawa Senators a 3-2 win over the Bruins on Saturday night at the Garden.

The loss, in which the Bruins were unable to hold a 2-1 lead in the second period, again prevented the Bruins (7-7-2) from going over .500. They haven’t been over .500 since going 3-2-0 with an Oct. 16 win at Colorado.

The Bruins were outshot 12-0 in the final period of regulation – low entertainment value for the Garden faithful. They have struggled to score all season. Now they are challenged to land shots. Elias Lindholm finally put the shot on net in OT, just a few seconds before Tkachuk’s winner.

The Bruins took a brief one-goal lead in the second after goals from Pavel Zacha and Brad Marchand. But they only managed four more shots on net all night.

The two-goal blitz in the second period started with Zacha’s third goal of the season, a nifty backhander from the top of the crease that he raced past Ullmark. It came at the 4:51 mark, after the Sens repeatedly failed to move the puck out of the zone.

All five Sens were sucking the wind when Zacha, on a dish from David Pastrnak, finally scored the 1-1 equalizer. The Bruins have been looking for that kind of possession all season. They got it and cashed it.

Just 15 seconds later, both sides back at full strength, Marchand nudged the Bruins ahead, 2-1, with a forehand sweep from his spot just a few feet from the right post.

Hampus Lindholm, much more involved in the attack this season (three goals, equal to his performance last season), made the goal possible by dragging the puck to the net and activating it from his left D spot. Justin Brazeau helped block Ullmark’s vision, and the opportunistic Marchand finished with his fifth goal of the season at 5:06.

It took Ottawa most of what was left of the period to connect for the equalizer. Noah Gregor made it happen, starting on his own side to gain speed, charging through the neutral zone and leaving for Michael Amadio to release from the right wing. Draw, 2-2.

Earlier, the Bruins squad, which was ranked 23rd in the league at the start of the weekend, bent and broke again as the Sens got their first advantage of the evening.

With plenty of room to operate in the Black-and-Gold D-zone, Brady Tkachuk fired an arrow through open territory for Swayman, trading from near the goal line in the left corner. Left unmarked in the right circle, the 6-foot-2 Norris leaned in a one-timer that he hit by Swayman for the 1-0 lead with just eight seconds left in the first period.

The Senators were in disarray when rookie Elias Lindholm was whistled for interfering with Norris at 6:27 p.m. Lindholm complained as he made his way to the penalty area. He regained his grip as he left the penalty area and headed back to the Boston bench with the Ottawa lead on the scoreboard.

Before the puck dropped, former teammates Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, traded to Ottawa in the offseason, met briefly along the boards for a quick hug at the start of warmups. It wasn’t their patented bro-hug that they perfected during the post-match celebrations in recent seasons, but the crowd was clearly thrilled to see the two side by side again.

After the hug, the two entries stood a few feet from the dressers, lifted their lids and posed for a photo taken by Steve Babineau, the Bruins’ longtime team photographer.

After the score was tied at 0-0 and time was called at 6:14 of the first, Ullmark was then treated to a short video tribute on the giant video board above center ice. Once again, the city’s residents were looking forward to it. Ullmark left his net during the break and watched from the boards in front of Ottawa’s bench, while Swayman also looked out of his net near the Bruins’ bench.

Ullmark, the 2022-2023 Vezina competition winner (top goalie), skated alone along the blue line next to the Senators bench and returned the applause back to the Garden crowd, making sure to make love to the entire audience divide by a 360 degrees around as he clapped his big goalkeeper gloves together.

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at [email protected].