Despite controlling much of the game’s pace on Thursday night, the Boston Bruins fell the East-worst Buffalo Sabres behind third period strikes from Drew Stafford and Tyler Myers. But with the scene shifting to Boston for a Saturday night battle with the division rival Sabres, the Black-and-Gold came out with the same aggression, and had the goals to back it up this time around.
Boston opened up the night’s scoring 9:39 into the first period when Reilly Smith capitalized on a great dish from Carl Soderberg to give the B’s a 1-0 edge over Jhonas Enroth.
With Linus Omark in the box, the Bruins’ power-play began with some great movement along the blue-line from Smith and the recently called up David Warsofsky, while a quick back-and-forth sequence between Patrice Bergeron and Ryan Spooner (who recorded the secondary assist on the goal) created the space for Soderberg and Smith.
For the B’s man-advantage, and in particular their presently sans Eriksson and Hamilton second unit, the ability for Spooner to gel into the equation has become an invaluable element to their success, while Warsofsky (stepping in for Johnny Boychuk) brought a steady element to the point.
But in a period that was so Bruins, the Sabres responded with a goal with just 1:06, as Zemgus Girgensons mucked it out in front of the net before potting home his fourth goal of the year.
Skating to a 1-1 draw after 20, the Girgensons goal would be the lone bright spot for Ted Nolan and company as a second period goal from David Krejci under two minutes into the frame, and third period goals from the Bruins’ Milan Lucic and Smith was all she wrote.
“It’s tough to win in this league if you only have one line going and a couple of other guys and a goaltender,… Nolan, the Sabres’ interim coach, told reporters after the loss. “Especially with us, we need a little bit more. But tonight it just wasn’t there.
“I just think we made some really bad decisions at some wrong times. I thought we started off okay for a road game – we kept it pretty quiet,… said Nolan, adding, “Then we took a bad penalty, and again it cost us. We had guys rushing up trying to make it a four on four, but just bad decisions all around.…
Finishing the night with 35 shots on goal (and outshooting the Bruins in third period 14-11), Buffalo squandered two 5-on-3 advantages, the second time by way of captain Steve Ott’s slashing call, and ultimately saw their special teams ineptitude lead to their downfall in the Hub.
“Well it’s unfortunate. I think he’ll obviously watch his clips and see what happened in the play, it’s a fast game out there,… a frustrated Ott said after the game.
“Obviously the object is not to take a penalty on a five on three by any means, that would have been a five on two basically with Chara without a stick and chances are you’re going to score in this league with a five on two and make it 3-2 game and be right in it actually with a few minutes to go. That didn’t happen, calls happen, breaks happen and we didn’t get the break, still no excuse.…
The win made it seven straight on Garden ice for the Bruins, with the club boasting a 12-0-2 record at home since Oct. 31’s shootout win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Patrice Bergeron records first career regular season fight
It takes a lot to get certain players to drop their gloves.
But after taking a crosscheck to the face, B’s alternate captain Patrice Bergeron wanted to have a word with the Sabres’ Tyler Myers. Or a meeting of the fists.
“He doesn’t live off of that, but he’s got that ability and when the time’s right he does it,… B’s goaltender Tuukka Rask said of Bergeron. “Today was one of those games that somebody got on his nerve and he decided to drop.
“He’s one of those guys, you know, tough Irishman.…
Mr. Saturday Night does it again
Saturdays seem to get Reilly Smith jacked. Or so the stats would suggest, anyways.
With his two-goal performance tonight, the 22-year-old Smith now has six goals and 12 points in 11 games played on Saturdays this season. It’s a mere footnote for the winger that’s become a suitable fill-in on the Bergeron line for the concussed Loui Eriksson, but a contribution that’s helped propel Smith to second on the club’s goal-scoring board, with 11 markers in 36 games this season.
Currently paced for a 23-goal, near 60-point season, Smith’s been an absolute godsend to this club.
It’s that cut and dry.
Up next
The Bruins will head to Nashville for a Monday night meeting with the Predators. Nashville, whose valiant comeback attempt against the Montreal Canadiens fell just short on Sat. night, will take to the ice with a 16-16-4 record on the year, and 8-7-3 record at home.