Any Type of Loss to the Sabres is Pathetic, No Excuses

1-12-5. That was Jhonas Enroth's (29 saves) absurdly poor record coming into tonight's matchup with the Bruins at First Niagara Center. To make it a little more fair, Boston (37-16-5) started Chad Johnson instead of Tuukka Rask who is still recovering from Sochi. Of course, that backfired as Buffalo (17-34-8) won 5-4 in overtime thanks to Loui Eriksson's turnover and Matt D'Agostini's speed to get by a very slow Zdeno Chara (both those guys had also returned from the Olympics).

You can't say that the B's really deserved this though, even against the worst team in the NHL. The Sabres scored first on a power play goal by my man Zemgus Girgensons (best name in the NHL nominee) and built a 3-1 lead before Boston began to play like the far superior team that they are. Milan Lucic's power play goal at 9:43 of the third period, his 18th of the season from Torey Krug and Jarome Iginla, handed them their only lead at 4-3.

Buffalo tied it with 52 seconds left in regulation as Matt Moulson, coming soon to another team near you, beat Johnson with an extra attacker on for the Sabres. At least D'Agostini got it over with quickly-22 seconds into the extra session-no need to spend more time than you have to in Buffalo.

Chris Kelly scored Boston's first goal post-Sochi just like we all predicted, at 10:47 of the first period from Carl Soderberg (sweet no-look backhand sauce) and Matt Bartkowski. It was Kelly's fifth goal of the season.

The refs obviously felt bad for the Sabres as they let Tyler Myers slash and punch Brad Marchand but only Boston's pesky winger received a penalty. Wouldn't you know that Myers scored on the ensuing Buffalo power play, it was that kind of shitty night. Lynnfield native Brian Flynn made it 3-1 Buffalo on a fluttering puck midway through the second and I half expected Niklas Svedberg to make his second appearance of the season.

Chara cut it to 3-2 at 11:01 of the second with his 14th goal of the season (9th on the power play) from Lucic and Krug. Marchand got some revenge on Buffalo when he tied it at three thanks to a sloppy turnover by John Scott (who they have playing defense, seriously) and pass by Reilly Smith. He leads the Bruins with 20 goals on the season, not too shabby.

Boston will have a couple days to stew over this uneven performance before they host Washington (27-23-9) on Saturday (1, NESN) at TD Garden. It promises to be a busy weekend for the B's since they travel to New York to face the Rangers on Sunday night as well, don't they know that The Oscars are on at the same time?

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Four Goals In The 3rd Period Leads To A Bruins Win On The Island

Any time that Tim Thomas gets a game off, it's a good thing for the Boston Bruins. If they can also win, that makes it even better since the playoffs begin in less than two weeks and he'll probably start every game.

Marty Turco (19 saves; 2-1-1) did enough and the B's (46-28-4) scored four goals in the third period as they beat the New York Islanders (33-34-11) 6-3 this afternoon at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The pro-Bruins crowd enjoyed a monster game from Boston's second line as Brad Marchand (1 goal, 2 assists), Tyler Seguin (1 goal, 2 assists) and Patrice Bergeron (1 goal, 1 assist) combined for eight points. Five different Bruins scored and Chris Kelly became the sixth Bruin to score 20+ goals this season.

The regular season finish line is a week away and Boston is playing like a determined team (6-1-1 in their last 8) with big expectations for another deep playoff run.

Krejci (22nd of the season) gave the B's a 1-0 lead at 18:11 of the first period thanks to a fine assist from Milan Lucic (2 assists). Andrew Ference had the other assist.

Turco allowed his only soft goal as Kyle Okposo (21st of the season) tied it 29 seconds later with a wrist shot that he should have gloved.

Gregory Campbell and Michael Haley fought early in the second period. It wasn't a classic bout but it seemed to get both teams into it, a tough thing to do with an early afternoon game on a Saturday.

Kelly picked up his career-high 20th goal on a sweet individual move and a hard shot that crossed Al Montoya (21 saves) up at 4:58 of the second period.

P.A. Parenteau (17th of the season) tied it at 2 with a nifty assist from the underrated John Tavares (2 assists) at 14:26. Matt Moulson (2 assists) had the other helper.

Marchand (27th) and Seguin (27th) matched each other with goals to start the third period. Parenteau made it interesting, with his second goal at 14:53.

Bergeron (21st of the season) and Krejci (career-high 23rd) iced it with a pair of goals 24 seconds apart. Bergeron's was off a rebound and Krejci once again benefited from Lucic moving his skates and looking up.

Thomas will be back in goal tomorrow night as the Bruins play at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers who are still the Eastern Conference's top team. Yes, it doesn't mean much since both teams are assured of getting a high seed (B's need 5 more points to win the Northeast Division and get the No. 2 seed) but New York is 3-0 so far against Boston. The B's need to at least play well if not grab two points to give themselves some piece of mind that the Rangers aren't unbeatable.

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Islanders Beat Bruins 3-2 But More Importantly, Tuukka Rask Might Have Been Seriously Hurt

So today could have gone better for the Boston Bruins. Not only did they lost to one of the NHL's bottom feeders-the New York Islanders-at home, but even worse goaltender Tuukka Rask might be out for a while after leaving early in the second period with a "lower body injury."

The B's (38-22-3) fell 3-2 to the Islanders (27-29-9) this afternoon at TD Garden and Rask didn't make the trip with Boston to New York for tomorrow's game against the Rangers after landing awkwardly when he tried to make a save. Plus, he won't be with them in Toronto either.

As a further kick in the balls, John Tavares (26th of the season) scored a shady goal for the game-winner at 15:21 in the third period. The play appeared to be dead when the Islanders seemingly touched the puck for an icing call on the Bruins. Boston's players stopped for a second but there was no whistle. Tavares was able to get an advantage but truthfully, his tip-in (from Matt Moulson and Andrew MacDonald) still should have been stopped by Tim Thomas (11 saves).

Daniel Paille also went down with what looked like a shoulder injury in the third period and he didn't return either. After the loss, the Bruins recalled goaltender Michael Hutchinson and forward Lane MacDermid from the Providence Bruins.

Boston hasn't won two straight since January 10 & 12 and now they've dropped five of eight. Every time they picked up a good win in the last month and a half, they follow it up with a poor effort like this. It's easy to blame injuries (Nathan Horton, Rich Peverley) but it's more than that. At least Johnny Boychuk returned today from his minor concussion so he's ok.

Milan Lucic (22nd of the season) gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 15:10 in the first period from Brian Rolston (facing his former employer) and Joe Corvo.

Josh Bailey (10th of the season) tied it at one a little over two minutes later. Boston's defense was caught watching the puck and he was able to slip through them and wrist a pass from Frans Nielsen. David Ullstrom had the other assist.

Moulson (28th of the season) inched closer to his third straight 30-goal season when he scored at 15:35 in the second on a snap shot. It was a power-play goal with Nielsen and Tavares notching assists.

Tyler Seguin (22nd of the season) electrified the usual quiet Saturday afternoon Garden crowd with a sick backhander past Evgeni Nabokov (32 saves) at 7:29 in the third. It was all thanks to a sweet indirect pass off the boards from Zdeno Chara that sprung Seguin. David Krejci had the second assist.

The Bruins lead the season series over the Islanders 2-1, it'll wrap up March 31 in Long Island.

Boston hits the road for two: at New York tomorrow afternoon and Tuesday night in Toronto. The Rangers and Bruins are the top two teams in the Eastern Conference but New York won the first two meetings, both in Boston, including the most recent contest 3-0 on Valentine's Day. Banged up or not and playing back-to-back afternoon games, the B's need to prove they can beat the Rangers. Otherwise, they'll go into the playoffs with a psychological disadvantage.

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Bruins lose fourth straight, the world is ending

Last night, the Boston Bruins experienced the rare trap game in the NHL and as expected, they did not respond well.

For the second straight night, they held a 2-0 lead but for the second consecutive game they blew it (first two times they've done that all season) as they lost 4-2 to the host New York Islanders at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Boston (38-21-9) has now lost a season-high four games and even that is misleading since they've been playing bad for longer than that. They didn't really deserve to win the last few games on their last road trip but they ended up on top.

For whatever reason, now the hockey Gods are not smiling on this woeful franchise.

Nathan Horton stayed hot with his 20th goal of the season at 16:29 of the first period. Milan Lucic and David Krejci assisted on the goal that Horton finished with a backhander to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

Things looked good when the power-play shook off the cobwebs and scored its first goal since February 18 when Zdeno Chara scored at 13:02 of the second period (his 12th of the season). Krejci and Tomas Kaberle assisted on Big Z's goal.

From there New York goaltender Al Montoya (26 saves) kept Boston scoreless.

The turning point happened with two seconds left in the second period as Matt Moulson scored his 29th of the season for the Islanders (27-32-10). It wasn't pretty as Moulson stuffed it past Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (38 saves) but it counted with assists to John Tavares and P.A. Parenteau.

I was texting with a buddy at that point and we were already predicting the Bruins' demise. He said they'd lose in a shootout, luckily for us they didn't drag it out that long.

Rookie Michael Grabner scored his 28th of the season at 1:58 to tie it up (from Kyle Okposo and Milan Jurcina). Defenseman Jack Hillen potted the game-winner at 5:58 (from Radek Martinek and Okposo). The meltdown wasn't complete without the rare empty-netter awarded when Patrice Bergeron hauled down Parenteau with 10 seconds left.

The good news is that the Bruins have the weekend to recover before three more games on the road (Columbus, Nashville, Toronto). Boston visits the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. I'd say Columbus is not very good (which is a true statement) but anybody is capable of giving the Bruins trouble at the moment. The Bruins have to wake up, starting now.