Post-Game Breakdown: Bruins-Sabres
Final: Boston 3, Buffalo 2 (Bruins win shootout, 2-1)
The Bruins are suddenly streaking in the right direction. After ending their 10-game losing streak on Sunday, they put together their first back-to-back victories since the Winter Classic with an impressive win in Buffalo against the first-place Sabres. Granted, Buffalo is in the midst of its own slump as the Sabres have now lost five in a row and have fallen into a tie with Ottawa for the top spot in the Northeast Division (Buffalo holds the tiebreaker with one less games played). Still, the Sabres don’t lose often at home and the Bruins showed some resiliency as they saw yet another 2-0 lead evaporate, but battled back to win it in a shootout. Shootouts haven’t been kind to the Bruins, who lost their last four, but they won this one in four rounds as Marco Sturm and David Krejci each scored. The Bruins now have points in four straight games and five of the last six. They remain in ninth place, tied with Philadelphia in points but the Flyers hold the tiebreaker with one less game played.
Records: Boston 25-22-11, 61 points; Buffalo 32=18-8, 72 points
Revisiting the Three Keys for the B’s:
1. Tuukka time better than Miller time? – Both Bruin rookie Tuukka Rask and Buffalo counterpart Ryan Miller had strong games in this one, but Rask takes home the extra point and it’s a well-earned one. He stopped 43 of the 45 shots he faced in the first 65 minutes, then after giving up a goal to Jason Pominville on the first shot of the shootout, he stoned Jochen Hecht, Tim Connolly and Drew Stafford to give the Bruins a chance to pull out the win. Miller made 32 saves, including a series of key ones in overtime when the Bruins went on the power play, but at least on this night, he couldn’t quite match Rask.
2. Shut down Vanek – The Bruins didn’t allow Sabres left wing Thomas Vanek to add to his gaudy 19-18-37 totals against Boston, finally shutting him out in his 34th career game against the Bruins. Vanek did have four shots in 19:23, but was a minus-1 and committed the hooking penalty that gave the Bruins a power play in overtime.
3. Killing zone – In a matchup of the top two penalty killing units in the NHL, neither team had many opportunities to show their short-handed skills. Buffalo kept the Bruins power play off the board, but Boston had just two chances and managed seven shots. That included three shots in the 4-on-3 in OT, which Buffalo survived more than killed thanks to Miller. Boston did give up one goal on three Buffalo power plays, which came on a 5-on-3 chance early in the second. The Sabres finished with 10 shots on their three power-play opportunities.
Key Play of the Game:
The Bruins weren’t even sure until warm-ups whether David Krejci would be able to play after he suffered a right leg injury Sunday in Montreal. Krejci managed just one shot in 17:21 during regulation and overtime, but he came through with the biggest play of the game when he scored the deciding goal in the shootout in the first round of sudden death. After Marc Savard failed to win it in the third round, Krejci perfectly placed a wrister over Miller’s glove and just inside the near right post to give Boston a much-needed victory. Every point is precious for the Bruins, and Krejci – on the day that the NHL announced the Bruins will open next season in his native Czech Republic – gave Bruins of every nationality a reason to celebrate.
Fight Card:
The Sabres have just 20 fights in 58 games this year, but five of them have come in two games against the Bruins. These division rivals just don’t like each other, and that was evident early with some big hits from the very first shift. Things boiled over early in the second when Sabres captain Craig Rivet tried to spark his club by taking on Shawn Thornton. It was an even toe-to-toe exchange until Thornton, who had lost his helmet at the start of the bout, tried to get Rivet’s bucket off. That allowed Rivet to land some solid shots, but once Thornton abandoned his efforts to detach Rivet’s helmet, he took over with a series of lefts that drove Rivet to the ice. Late in the third, Milan Lucic took exception to a late hit by Adam Mair and that pair squared off as well. Mair opened with a quick right jab that appeared to stun Lucic and followed up with some lefts as he got Lucic’s jersey over his head. But Lucic kept throwing even while blinded and his late rights found the mark and bloodied Mair. There was a brief scare for the Bruins when Lucic had his surgically-repaired hand checked out by the training staff, but he returned to the penalty box to serve out his five-minute major. Buffalo’s Paul Gaustad was in the middle of scrums all night but never ended up in a fight. It started with his huge hit on Dennis Wideman in the opening minute, which drew the attention of Zdeno Chara. In the second, Gaustad leveled Chara behind the Bruins net and Chara responded with a cross-check that decked Gaustad. But when Gaustad got up, dropped the gloves and grabbed Chara, but the Bruins captain, whose injured hand is still wrapped and would risk a match penalty for fighting with anything on his hands, wouldn’t bite. Later in the game, Adam McQuaid got tangled up with Gaustad and the Bruin rookie dropped his gloves, but this time Gaustad skated away.
Flynn’s Finest:
Rask continues to solidify his case for the No. 1 role in goal, as he was stellar again in his fourth straight start. It’s hard to imagine he won’t get a fifth straight start Thursday after he stopped 43 of 45 shots he faced in this one, then came up huge in the shootout. Daniel Paille hadn’t scored in eight games, but came up with two goals against his former team tonight. The first opened the scoring with a nifty wraparound at the right post after Savard left a drop pass for him behind the net, while the second was a tip-in from the crease of a Chara point shot. Marco Sturm led the Bruins with six shots and while he didn’t score in regulation, it got him prepared for the shootout. In his first shootout attempt of the season, Sturm buried his shot to match Pominville’s first-round goal as he came in slowly down the right side, then sped up suddenly and fired in a forehand that Miller got a piece of, but not enough to keep out of the net. Thornton did a good job answering the bell in his bout with Rivet and also led the Bruins with six hits. As mentioned, gutsy effort by Krejci to shake off Sunday’s injury and deliver the decisive goal in the shootout.
Flynn’s Sin Bin:
There wasn’t too much not to like about this one, though seeing the Bruins squander yet another 2-0 lead was more than a bit troublesome. It was also another tough night for Dennis Wideman, who slipped back into some bad habits after playing much better in recent games. It started rough when he was blasted by Gaustad in the opening minute. Late in the game he almost cost the Bruins a shot at any points, as he was whistled for cross-checking, giving Buffalo a power play with 8:52 left in the third. Then, with 22 seconds left, he coughed up the puck behind his own net as Pominville tripped him and nearly won it for Buffalo with a wraparound attempt at the left post that Rask barely made the save on. Still, despite all that, Wideman led all Bruins in ice-time with 29:48, 43 seconds more than even Chara logged. Wideman would have played even more, but Claude Julien wisely pulled him off to put Derek Morris out with Chara before the face-off after Wideman’s gaffe behind the net in the closing seconds. Lucic fared well in his scrap, but he still wasn’t much of a presence out there with just one shot and one hit in 9:56 while also getting called for hooking. He’s been dropped to the fourth line with Thornton and Steve Begin, and between his continued ineffectiveness and Paille’s big night playing with Savard and Miroslav Satan, it might be a while before Lucic gets another shot at top-line duty.
Next: The Bruins continue their road trip by heading to Florida for a clash with Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Lightning leaped to sixth place in the East after beating Vancouver tonight.
Tags: Sabres
