B's Save What Otherwise Was A Rough 24 Hours for Boston Sports Fans With a 3-2 Win vs. Buffalo

The Celtics (22-8) getting waxed 113-97 last night at TD Garden by the Raptors (22-11)-only their second home loss this season and revenge for their beating in Toronto on Christmas-was one thing but seeing the Patriots (12-4) crap themselves this afternoon at Gillette Stadium and falling 27-24 to the hapless Dolphins (5-11) thereby throwing away a bye and the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs was downright shocking. Nobody nationally will ever feel bad for Boston sports fans with the unmatched run of success that all of our teams have had in the past few decades but at least locally, we needed a win. Thankfully, the Bruins (24-7-9) were happy to oblige with one of their favorite longtime punching bags-the Sabres (17-16-7)-in town. It was harder than it had to be but Boston held on for a 3-2 win, their third in a row overall and second in three days vs. Buffalo.

The Bruins improved to 3-0 vs. the Sabres this season with sadly only one more meeting left: March 13 in Buffalo. Additionally, the B's built their Atlantic Division lead back to double-digit points, in this case 10 points ahead of second-place Toronto (21-14-5) just one game away from exactly halfway through the regular season. Boston coasted to a 3-0 victory in Buffalo on Friday thanks to the 50th career NHL shutout of Jaroslav Halak's (9-3-4) career. This evening, Tuukka Rask (15-4-5, 24 saves) got the start and while he wasn't as sharp as Halak had been, he still managed to outduel Linus Ullmark (11-10-3, 19 saves) who oddly enough played in both games while backup goaltender Carter Hutton rotted on the bench.

It was a strange game for the B's who are now 14-1-8 at the Garden. They were outshot 7-2 in the first period yet led 1-0 after the first 20 minutes of action. David Pastrnak staked his team to a 1-0 advantage with his NHL-best 29th goal of the season at 12:39. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron had the assists as Bergy started the play by winning a puck battle along the boards and pushing the disc ahead to Marchand who skated in with Pasta on a 2-on-1. Pastrnak roofed a beautiful wrist shot past the diving Ullmark. Victor Olofsson hit the crossbar for Buffalo in the first period, a theme for the Sabres as Curtis Lazar also rang a shot off the crossbar late in regulation.

Buffalo got a lucky bounce to tie it at one at 6:37 of the second period. Rask stopped Rasmus Ristolainen's initial shot but Zdeno Chara ended up putting the puck in his own net as he hit it off the back of Rask's skate. Sam Reinhart and former Bruins playoff hero Marcus Johansson had the assists on Ristolainen's fourth goal of the season. Jake DeBrusk was benched in the first period by Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy for lack of hustle (failing to attempt to block a shot) but he responded with a pair of power play goals that were ultimately the difference in the final outcome of the contest. Torey Krug is on IR with an upper-body injury and Charlie McAvoy has also missed the last two games with what I suspect is a concussion so Steven Kampfer has received some rare consistent playing time in the NHL. Credit to him for making the most of it with his first two-point performance in almost nine years (he had a goal and assist on Jan. 13, 2011!). He took a shot that DeBrusk re-directed for his 10th goal of the season at 2:37 with Pasta getting the second assist. Just 18 seconds later, Ullmark gave up a brutal goal as DeBrusk's attempted centering pass actually snuck in the near post that old Linus wasn't up against tight enough. David Krejci and Kampfer had the assists on DeBrusk's second tally.

The Bruins have had trouble recently closing games out on home ice but this time, they were able to get it done in regulation without the need of their worst enemy: overtime and/or a shootout where they are hopeless in both. Of course, there were some nervy moments as Lazar put in a loose puck to cut it to 3-2 at 5:08 of the third period. Rask gloved the first shot but the puck popped loose nearby where Lazar was able to take advantage of that mistake. Boston survived a tripping penalty by bum Brett Ritchie in crunch time. This was another two points where Boston's special teams units carried them with not only DeBrusk's two power play goals (Sabres PK is #28, is that bad?) but their penalty kill was a flawless 3-for-3 (granted Buffalo's PP is #19 in the NHL).

Connor Clifton left in the second period with an upper-body injury of his own but Cassidy didn't think it was too serious. I also saw McAvoy talking in the hall after the game so he's probably not too far off from returning to action. There is only one game left in 2019/this decade for the Bruins which seems crazy to say: Tuesday afternoon (1, NESN) at terrible New Jersey (13-19-6). Thankfully they don't have to spend New Year's Eve in Newark which sounds like the script for a cheesy late-night horror movie on Cinemax. Boston's next home game is also their first of 2020-Thursday (7, NESN) vs. Columbus (17-14-8). They also host Edmonton (20-17-4) on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) so hopefully the Patriots Wild Card home game (talk about an oxymoron) is either that night or on Sunday. Either way, this is a forgiving stretch against four non-playoff teams in a row (5 games since they played Buffalo back-to-back) which should help the Bruins rack up points. Let me be the first to tell you (albeit a few days early), Happy New Year!

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A Slow Start Doesn't Doom the Bruins as They Find A Way to Hold Off the Free-Falling Sabres, 3-2

The Sabres (10-9-3) got off to a fantastic start this season but they have predictably dropped off a cliff the last few weeks so they served as the perfect foil for the Bruins (14-3-5) tonight at TD Garden as they try to get back into a groove. Buffalo scored first and outshot Boston 12-0 to begin the tilt before the Bruins woke up with three straight goals en route to hanging on for dear life in a harder-than-it-should-have-been 3-2 victory for the home team. Believe it or not, the B's actually haven't lost in regulation at the Garden in 2019-20 (8-0-4) and they improved to 3-0-3 in their past six games. On the other side, the Sabres dropped to 1-7-2 in their last 10 games.

Brad Marchand scored two goals, David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist while Danton Heinen added two assists but there was no question that as Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy pointed out after the game, Tuukka Rask (36 saves) was Boston's best player. Rask is now 10-2-0 this season and he faced a barrage of pucks for most of the contest as Buffalo outshot Boston 38-27 including 17-4 in the first period and 14-9 in the third period. Boston's power play only got two opportunities but they managed to convert on both of them with tallies from Marchand in the second period and Pastrnak early in the third. Along the way, Rask also made one of the best saves of his career as he robbed BU's Evan Rodrigues with a diving stop across the goal mouth that ended with the puck hitting him on the underside of his blocker. Check the interwebs for it!

Buffalo came in with a terrible power play (ranked #24 in the NHL) but they scored on their first one 5:25 into the contest. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen parked his large Finnish body (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) in front of Rask and he was able to stuff in a loose puck. North Chelmsford's Jack Eichel and Victor Oloffson had the assists on Ristolainen's first goal of the campaign. Eichel leads the Sabres with 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) and he's one of the best players in the league with nine points (6 goals, 3 assists) in his last six games. He is signed with Buffalo for years to come but you wonder how many more of these fruitless seasons with no playoffs that he can take before he starts to lose his mind. As a local guy (that won the Hobey Baker in his 1 brilliant season at BU), you hope that at some point he can be surrounded by teammates, coaches and a front office worthy of his incredible talent.

The Bruins tied it up on their second shot on goal of the game: Marchand cruised in front of Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark (24 saves, 4-5-1) and he tipped in Zdeno Chara's shot from the point. Pasta had the second assist on Brad's 14th goal of the season. That goal woke the B's up and the crowd got fired up to another level after that as Chris Wagner sort of dropped the gloves with Curtis Lazar after the latter poked Rask who had covered up the puck for a face-off. Boston was lucky that it remained 1-1 after 20 minutes but they came out a much better team in the second period. They outshot the Sabres 14-7 and went ahead 2-1 at 14:45 on Marchand's power play strike. He put in a rebound, assisted by Matt Grzelcyk and Heinen. Marchand is proving that last year's 100 points (a 1st in his NHL career) was no fluke as he has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in his last six games and 37 points (15 goals, 22 assists) in his last 21 games. You don't have to be a Bruins honk to see that he's a top star in the NHL.

The B's were up 2-1 after two periods and that advantage increased to 3-1 at 1:56 of the third. Pasta's power play goal was pretty similar to Marchand's, he put in a loose puck with assists going to Heinen and Patrice Bergeron (who returned after missing 2 games with a lower-body injury). Pasta leads the NHL with 20 goals and he became the fastest Bruin to reach 20 goals since Cam Neely in 1993-94 (who did it in 19 games). Ironically, Rask's worst moment of the evening came very shortly after that show-stopping save. UMass alum and defenseman Brandon Montour beat him from way out with a shot that simply appeared to elude Rask's glove. Montour's second goal of the season was at 12:58, assisted by another Minuteman Brandon Sheary and Rasmus Dahlin. Buffalo had three guys named Rasmus in the lineup tonight, don't forget Rasmus Asplund their fourth line center. Even stranger than that is the fact they come from three different places: Ristolainen is from Finland, Dahlin is from Sweden and Asplund is from Minnesota.

Charlie McAvoy had a wonderful chance to put the game on ice/get his first goal of the season but his backhander on a breakaway went wide of the net. This meant that Boston had to sweat out the last few minutes of regulation, including Ullmark getting pulled for an extra skater but luckily for them, they weren't facing the Capitals or another high-caliber team that could make them pay for allowing a whopping 69 (hi Gronk!) shot attempts (38 on goal, 17 blocked, 14 missed net). It certainly wasn't pretty like their 5-1 blowout in New Jersey on Tuesday but the Bruins will happily take those two points thank you kindly. Another cupcake comes to the Garden on Saturday night (7, NESN) in the form of the Wild (9-11-2)-the second worst team in the Western Conference. Minnesota has won its past two games and they are 5-3-2 in their last 10 which should show you just how terrible they were to start this season.

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B's Hold Off Sabres 2-1, Earning Their 4th Straight Win While Finishing 3-1 vs. Buffalo This Season

It wasn't exactly the most exciting game of the season but you can't argue that the Bruins (24-14-4) continue to get results. Tonight, they outlasted the Sabres (22-14-6) 2-1 at TD Garden in a contest that carried plenty of weight for both sides. With the two points, Boston is now two points ahead of both the Islanders (23-13-4) and Buffalo who dropped down to the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference while the B's got a little tighter grip on third-place in the Atlantic Division.

Former BU star Jack Eichel has missed the past two games with a dreaded upper-body injury but I'm not going to use that as an excuse since the Bruins have faced an absurd amount of injuries to key players throughout the first half of the season. Boston outshot Buffalo 41-32 and it was a relatively easy outing for Tuukka Rask (31 saves, 11-8-2) who won his third start in a row. Boston also improved to 15-5-0 at the Garden this season while Buffalo dropped back to .500 on the road (9-8-3). This closed the book on the season series with the Bruins winners of three games to just one for the much-improved Sabres. Keep that in mind if they should meet this spring because the Bruins no doubt will feel confident in that scenario.

Secondary scoring has been an issue for the B's most of this season but not this evening as both goals came from lines other than their flawless top trio of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. Nope, just two good-old fashioned even strength goals by a fourth liner (Chris Wagner) and a new second liner (David Backes) who returned from his three-game suspension. Ironically enough, Wagner actually appeared to score a goal 20 seconds into the tilt but it was called no goal due to his linemate Sean Kuraly bumping into Linus Ullmark (39 saves, 9-2-3). Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy challenged it for kicks but of course it was confirmed: no goal.

No worries, Wagner scored at 10:10 of the first period after a turnover by Buffalo in its own defensive zone. Wagner's other linemate Noel Acciari bumped the puck ahead to him and he beat Ullmark for his fifth goal of the season. Boston led 1-0 after the first period and 2-0 two minutes into the second period as Backes sniped a shot by Ullmark as he had no choice but to do that as the Sabres gave him a wide open lane to shoot. Backes' fourth goal of the season was assisted by Rask (his 1st of the season), meaning that Boston's goalies have now combined for four assists this season (Jaroslav Halak has 3, 1 shy of the franchise record for goaltenders).

There were only three penalties in the entire game-Buffalo's PP was 0-for-2 and Boston's was 0-for-1-but there would be no shutout for Rask (he hasn't had one yet this season). One of Buffalo's young standout defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen ensured that his team wouldn't get blanked though as he put a beautiful shot top shelf over Rask's glove at 17:22 of the third period. His fifth goal of the season was unassisted. Marchand and Pastrnak had a couple 2-on-1s that surprisingly didn't result in goals but it hardly mattered. Buffalo used its timeout with 1:17 and pulled Ullmark for an extra skater but they weren't going to tie it up anyway. Rask's best save came against Jeff Skinner flying down the wing.

This win-streak should continue at least for a few more days as Boston is off tomorrow before practicing on Monday and facing the Wild (20-17-3) on Tuesday (7, NESN). Minnesota is in Montreal (22-15-5) on Monday so the B's figure to see a tired opponent while they are well rested. Things should be much harder on Thursday (7, NESN) when they play the Capitals (24-12-4)-a team that currently owns them like no other in the NHL-but we'll worry about that starting on late Tuesday night. Until then, be happy that this club continues to make strides and earn points.

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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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Facing A Must-Win vs. Buffalo, Boston Comes Through (Barely) 4-3 in OT Thanks to Eriksson

While I will admit that the Sabres have been playing better lately, a loss against them at anytime is still unacceptable, especially when the Bruins are so desperate for points. That's what made Boston's (17-14-3) 4-3 overtime win against Buffalo (13-18-3) this evening at TD Garden so vital to the B's. I know I said it last week when they won at Minnesota but once again, this might have saved Boston's turbulent season.

Boston actually trailed 3-2 with under two minutes left in regulation before Dougie Hamilton (1st career 2-goal game; tied career-high with 3 points) tied it at 18:29 with a top shelf wrister. That set the stage for Loui Eriksson's second straight overtime game-winner (he also did that vs. Wild on Wednesday) at 2:14 of the extra session. Milan Lucic sprung him by chipping the puck ahead and Zdeno Chara started the play from Boston's end so he got the second assist.

There were two games left before Christmas break and both were at the Garden so the B's couldn't afford to drop another game. They improved to 3-0 vs. the Sabres this season (2-0 in OT) with the much-anticipated finale coming on St. Patrick's Day here in Boston, I'll bring the green beer.

The Bruins actually had a power play goal by Reilly Smith called off for the softest goaltender interference that you've ever seen on Eriksson. He barely touched Jhonas Enroth (33 saves) who still had time to recover anyway yet that's not how the refs saw it. No worries though as Hamilton beat Enroth on that same man-advantage. His sixth goal of the season came at 5:52 and it was assisted by Carl Soderberg and Eriksson.

All hell broke loose later in the first period when Matt Bartkowski absolutely annihilated BC's Brian Gionta with a shoulder right to his head. Gionta got knocked out (and left the game) and Bartkowski (playing in his 100th NHL game) ended up in his first NHL fight vs. Marcus Foligno (who ended up leaving with an injury as well). Bartkowski got a game-misconduct and he could be hearing from the league although who knows since he's never been fined or suspended and he's not a dirty player at all.

Former Bruins great Andrej Meszaros tied it at 6:06 of the second period, tapping in a pass from Chris Stewart (reportedly scouted by Boston for a possible trade) and Johan Larsson. It was his first goal as a Sabre and first since last March 30 with Boston vs. another former team (Philadelphia).

It felt like it wasn't the Bruins' night when Buffalo netted only their ninth power play goal of the season (!). Good old Rasmus Ristolainen's shot deflected off Torey Krug's skate past Tuukka Rask (25 saves). Tyler Ennis and Zemgus Girgensons (another fantastic name) were credit with the gift assists as Buffalo took the 2-1 lead.

Luckily Boston's fans only had a minute to stew (literally) as Chris Kelly tied it with an old school tip in that bounced off the ice and into the net. Chara and Hamilton assisted on Kelly's third goal of the season which also gave him a four-game point streak (1 goal, 3 assists).

To say I was conflicted by Buffalo's next goal doesn't even begin to explain it. Providence College graduate and Merrimack, NH native Tim Schaller scored his first career NHL goal and point on a wraparound at 1:27 of the third period. It was a beautiful moment with his parents in the stands and for a while, I thought it would stand up as the game-winner. Against any other team, I'd be going nuts for him.

Boston had some crazy zone time in the third period and outshot Buffalo 13-6 but it looked like a useless stat until Hamilton finally tied it up. Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith both had helpers on Hamilton's huge tally. For a team that struggles so much to score, it is bizarre how well that Boston has done in OT this season (5-1 in OT and 2-2 in shootouts). Likewise, the irony that Eriksson has won them two games in the past five days is hilarious since he's one of the easy targets for most people.

The Predators (21-8-2) are in Columbus tomorrow night before visiting Boston on Tuesday (7, NESN), the Sabres also came in on the second night of a back-to-back. Nashville won 3-2 in a shootout last Tuesday at home, the start of Boston's three-game road trip. They are one of the best teams in the NHL and Pekka Rinne is currently the top goaltender so needless to say the B's will have their hands full before they can enjoy a few much-needed days off.

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