Bruins get revenge, defeat Sabres 3-1
Final Score: Boston Bruins 3, Buffalo Sabres 1
A day after Boston’s home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning was postponed because of a blizzard, the Bruins traveled to Buffalo to pick up their pace with a 3-1 win over the Sabres on Sunday night.
The final score didn’t do true justice to how much Boston outplayed and outshot (39-26) Buffalo. The Bruins dominated the Sabres for much of the game and avenged their 7-4 loss t0 the Sabres on Jan. 31.
Three Bruins players contributed to the win as Brad Marchand netted the first goal, Patrice Bergeron scored a power-play goal and Milan Lucic finished the game with an empty-netter.
Highlights:
- The Bruins earned their 17th point, the most they’ve had through 10 games. The previous best was 16 points over that span, set four times — the last in 1978-79, when Boston opened 7-1-2. The Bruins now have a record of 8-1-1.
- Boston is back at full strength – the Bruins welcomed back Brad Marchand (shoulder injury), Daniel Paille (upper body injury) and Shawn Thornton (concussion). Marchand missed one game while Paille and Thornton missed two.
- The Bruins saw some improvement in their power-play. Bergeron had his second goal of the season and the Bruins finally had their first power-play goal in five games. They began the night 0 for 13 on the power play over the previous four games.
Players of the Game:
Brad Marchand – Marchand snapped off a wrister from the left circle after a short dish from Andrew Ference, breaking the scoreless tie with 7:10 gone in the second period. It was Marchand’s first game back since banging up a shoulder Feb. 2 in Toronto.
Patrice Bergeron– with 7:52 gone in the third period and the scored knotted at 1-1, Bergeron connected with the winner on a power-play goal. The puck bounced off the end boards and dribbled directly to Bergeron in the left circle, from where he snapped a shot into the top right corner.
Anton Khudobin – the Bruins’ backup goalie made 25 saves and was sharp in net as he allowed the league’s leading scorer Thomas Vanek only one shot on net.
Quote of the Game:
“We’ve been talking for some time, since the start of the season, that we have to create some momentum with our power play,’’ said Bergeron, via NESN. “You have to stay positive, find a way. Obviously, it has to be better. And today all it took was that lucky break — the bounce off the back that went right by their defensemen. It comes down to karma at some point . . . you have to get one.’’
Looking Ahead:
The Bruins will host the New York Rangers on Tuesday at the TD Garden. The puck is set to drop at 7:30 p.m. The two teams met on Jan. 23 when Boston suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to New York.
