Bruins Repeatedly Puke on Their Skates, Fall 2-1 in Shootout vs. Sabres-The NHL's Worst Team

Boston's (36-23-11) 2-1 shootout loss to Buffalo (20-43-7) on Tuesday at TD Garden is exactly the type of result that keeps a team one point out of the playoffs in a month. The Bruins are still in decent shape (up 3 points on Ottawa) for eighth-place in the Eastern Conference but when you play the worst club in the NHL at home (in their second leg of a back-to-back), you have to get two points.

What made matters worse for the B's is that they had 95 shots (45 on goal, 28 blocked and 22 missed the net) while holding the Sabres to only 47 (24 on goal, 10 blocked & 13 missed the net). Anders Lindback (3-11-2) picked up his first win for Buffalo and first as a starter this season (he had 2 in relief with Dallas), so at least we can say that Boston was part of NHL history in that respect. Tuukka Rask was out with "general soreness," haha really. It was the perfect time for Niklas Svedberg (7-5-1; 23 saves) to make his once-a-month start and he was fine since he could mostly nap during play-Buffalo had 10 shots through the first two periods.

It looked like it was going to be a St. Patrick's Day laugher when Loui Eriksson scored at 9:55 of the first period for an early 1-0 Bruins advantage. Adam McQuaid's shot went off the end boards and took a weird bounce right to Eriksson in front of the net. Other than empty-netters, Boston won't get an easier goal this season than Eriksson's 18th of the season. Carl Soderberg had the other assist, his first point in seven games while McQuaid snapped a 23-game scoreless streak. I won't mention that Soderberg hasn't scored a goal in exactly two months but oops, I just did!

Even though the B's must have set a season-high in shots and also zone time (good luck keeping track of that), you had a terrible feeling that Buffalo would somehow win when they could never extend their lead. The inevitable happened after they let the Sabres hang around: Buffalo tied it at 1:23 of the third period. Rasmus Ristolainen's power-play shot from the point went off Matt Bartkowski's skate and through Svedberg's five-hole because of course. Ristolainen's fifth goal of the season was assisted by BC's Brian Gionta and Johan Larsson.

Boston got more pressure in overtime, outshooting Buffalo 7-3, but when it went to a shootout you knew they wouldn't win. The Bruins beat the Lightning in a shootout last Thursday to snap a seven-game losing streak in them but they came in 3-7 overall this season while Buffalo improved to 8-5 in the novelty format. Tyler Ennis had the lone shootout goal as Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Torey Krug all failed to get the job done.

This completed a three-games-in-four-nights stretch for the B's with another beginning on Thursday (7:30, NESN) at Ottawa (34-24-11). Needless to say, that is the biggest contest of the season thus far. Then it's off to Florida (31-25-14) on Saturday night (7, NESN) followed by Tampa Bay (43-21-7) on Sunday night (5, NESN). Boston only has twelve games left in the regular season: the Senators and Panthers represent their remaining competition for the second Wild Card while the Lightning are a team they could see in the first round of the postseason (assuming that they make it).

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Lightning Can't Solve the Bruins This Season; Get Well Soon Stamkos!

Afternoon matinees in the NHL always have a strange feel, they are filled with way more kids and less drunk adults so the atmosphere is tame and quiet. The Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 this afternoon at TD Garden on Veterans Day but sadly I'm sure the lasting image will be Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos getting wheeled off on a stretcher after he broke his leg.

Boston (11-5-1) has treated Tampa Bay (12-5-0) this season like they are the lowly Panthers and not the top team in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins improved to 3-0 vs. the Lightning, outscoring them an aggregate of 11-1 with only one meeting left (March 8 in TB). For the second straight game vs. Tampa Bay, Tuukka Rask (28 saves) didn't even allow a goal to one of the highest scoring teams in the league. It was his second shutout of the season and 18th of his career.

It's hard to blame Tampa Bay if they lost some of their spirit after seeing arguably the top player in the NHL go down in the second period with a serious injury. Boston played well all game but they finally cashed in two scoring chances late in the frame. Patrice Bergeron went to the front of the net and fought through traffic to get his sixth goal of the season at 17:09 from Loui Eriksson and Torey Krug.

Before the Lightning had a chance to regroup, Daniel Paille was skating in on a breakway and he tucked a backhander past Anders Lindback (23 saves) for his second goal of the season. Gregory Campbell (first point of the year!) and Matt Bartkowski had the assists. With no Stamkos and Boston's penalty kill pitching a shutout as well (4 for 4, 22 in a row dating back 6 games), there would be no comeback for the visitors.

It appeared that David Krejci scored a goal late in the third period but it was wiped out for a shaky goaltender interference ruling on Jarome Iginla. No worries, Iginla made up for that with an empty netter with 59 seconds left. It was his fourth goal of the season, remember when he was stuck on zero for so long?

Boston gets a couple days off at home before finishing up this long run at TD Garden; on Thursday (7, NESN) they host the Blue Jackets (6-10-0), who are one of the most disappointing teams in the NHL given their expectations coming into this season after they just missed out on the playoffs last season and have the Vezina Trophy winner (Sergei Bobrovsky).

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Nathan Horton's Two Goals Propel The Bruins Past The Lightning, 4-2 In Tampa Bay

When the Bruins are clicking on all cylinders like they did tonight, it's tough to see many teams in the Eastern Conference (or the Western Conference) stopping them. They are so deep and even if certain guys or lines are struggling, they have a bunch of other players step up. Tampa Bay (8-7-1) saw it first-hand as they fell 4-2 to Boston (10-2-2) at Tampa Bay Times Forum.

These two teams would have met when the blizzard hit Boston two weeks ago (Saturday, February 9) but instead it was postponed until April 25. As the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals showed us, whenever they play it usually turns out to be a pretty entertaining style of hockey. Nathan Horton scored two goals for the first time in 13+ months while Patrice Bergeron (1 goal, 1 assist), Brad Marchand (1 goal, 1 assist) and Dougie Hamilton (2 assists) also recorded multiple points.

Boston scored a pair of goals in the first 3:50 of the game so it looked like they might blow the Lightning out of their own building. Horton collected a rebound on Hamilton's shot and scored his fifth goal of the season at 1:11. Bergeron made it 2-0 with his third of the season at 3:50 thanks to great work along the boards by Marchand.

It's a credit to Tampa Bay and their explosive offense that they didn't roll over by any means. MVP frontrunner Steven Stamkos potted his 11th goal of the season thanks to assists from Teddy Purcell and Marc-Andre Bergeron at 8:13 of the first period. Tuukka Rask (24 saves; 8-1-2) didn't have any time to react as Stamkos roofed it over him from directly in front of the goal.

Cory Conacher tied it for the Lightning at 9:00 of the second period from Purcell and Stamkos. Not bad for a kid that went to Canisius College, Conacher gets to play on a line with Stamkos and Purcell. After Anders Lindback (22 saves) made a stop, Tampa Bay countered and the rookie Conacher put one past Rask via a 2-on-1.

They might have blown a two-goal lead but it didn't take long for the B's to respond and build another one in its place. Marchand was the recipient of a lucky bounce after Tyler Seguin's shot was blocked right to him. Bergeron had the other assist on the game-winner at 13:58 of the second period. Horton added the insurance tally at 2:33 of the third period with a perfect tip of Zdeno Chara's slap pass. Hamilton had the second assist. Everyone was trying to set Horton up for the hat trick after that but he couldn't do it, he actually hit the post on two separate occasions after Lindback was pulled for the extra skater.

Boston's tour of the Sunshine State ends on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m., NESN) as they visit the Panthers (5-7-4, 4th in Southeast Division), who appear rather hopeless at the moment despite the fact that they made the playoffs last season.

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