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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Under No Circumstances This Season Is A Loss to the Sabres An Acceptable Result

There are bad losses and then there is losing to the worst team in the NHL, in a game where you had the lead in the second period and controlled play for most of the night. The stinkbombs in Detroit and Vancouver will be remembered more since they were more dramatic but Boston's 4-2 loss tonight to Buffalo at the First Niagara Center was plenty depressing enough.

This should have served as Brad Marchand's turnaround to a crappy season (for him) since he scored both goals for the Bruins (23-10-2) but instead, Chad Johnson (19 saves) allowed another backbreaking goal on a cheesy wraparound that should never work in the NHL. The Sabres (9-23-3) aren't having a tough campaign, they are a horrorshow. That's what makes a loss to them so hard to swallow.

Ryan Miller (34 saves) is still toiling away for the Sabres and he's plenty good enough to make him vs. Johnson a complete mismatch. Former University of Maine Star Brian Flynn (a native of Lynnfield, MA) gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead with a pretty shorthanded goal at 16:27 of the first period. He skated in on a breakaway and lifted the puck to the top shelf with a nifty backhander.

Marchand responded with a shorthanded goal for Boston at 1:50 of the second period. After a pass from Johnny Boychuk, he had an open lane and drove down the wing before wristing the puck through Miller's five-hole. It was Marchand's sixth goal of the season.

Just 1:14 later, Marchand gave Boston its first lead at 2-1. This time he one-timed a pass from Patrice Bergeron. The shot wasn't scorching since he seemed to have mishit it but it still worked.

Buffalo had some good luck (probably the first time in history that's ever been written about the Sabres or Bills) when Jamie McBain's shot bounced in off Marcus Foligno's chest. The timing was tough too, 17:11 of the second period so it was a new game.

Stafford's goal came at 14:19 and Tyler Myers (remember him?) added the insurance tally 1:20 after Stafford's game-winner. The B's have a chance to take out their frustrations on the Sabres this Saturday (7, NESN), their next contest. You have to believe that Boston will beat hapless Buffalo at TD Garden but with all these injuries, I guess we shall wait and see.

Shoutout to rookie defenseman David Warsofsky who made his NHL debut for the Bruins. He grew up in Marshfield, MA and went to BU so you have to believe he was a huge Bruins fans growing up. It's always fun to see a local person going somewhere in professional sports.

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Well It's A Good Thing That The Bruins Won't See The Sabres In The Playoffs This Season

For whatever reason, in every sport there are always teams that aren't very good yet they match up well with certain quality opponents. The Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins seem to be living proof of that sloppy lede. Boston (8-2-2) suffered their second regulation loss of the season tonight, 4-2 against Buffalo (6-8-1) at the First Niagara Center. The Sabres improved to 2-1 against the B's so far this season (with two games to go) and they pinned that other regulation loss on Boston as well.

The weird part is that the Bruins had just won 3-1 on Sunday in Buffalo (sweet scheduling: half of the Bruins games have been against the Rangers and Sabres) but this time Anton Khudobin (22 saves; 2-1-0) couldn't get another road win, not that it was really his fault. For starters, Ryan Miller (30 saves; 6-6-1) was again spectacular with the help from his goal posts which the B's hit three times.

After Drew Stafford scored 3:24 into the contest, Boston seemed to be in control. Dougie Hamilton notched his first career NHL goal, on the power-play no less to tie it at one at 17:56 of the first period. David Krejci and Tyler Seguin had the assists on Hamilton's one-timed bomb.

The B's dominated in the second period (outshooting the Sabres 17-6) and they were rewarded with a lucky bounce of the puck. Hamilton intentionally hit the puck off the glass but it dropped to Rich Peverley who batted it out of the air for his second goal of the season. Dennis Seidenberg had the other assist at 2:29. Boston should have been up by a few goals but it still had to be fun to hear the miserable Buffalo fans boo their team off the ice after the second period ended.

Buffalo came out in the third period motivated though and just like on January 31 (when they closed on a 4-0 run), the Sabres ran the Bruins off the ice with three unanswered goals. Khudobin wasn't to blame, the defense in front of him couldn't have choked more in one period (slight exaggeration). Tyler Myers got to play in this game (after being a healthy scratch lately) and he tied it up off a rebound at 2:03. Christian Ehrhoff took advantage of a sloppy clearing attempt to pot the go-ahead goal at 9:02. Cody Hodgson added an insurance tally at 11:45 after Myers drove behind the net then flipped it to him. Ugly. The Bruins were outshot 10-3 in the frame.

This disappointing loss was the start of a five-game road trip for the B's, remember they won't be back at TD Garden until February 28 (cue the sad music). Next up, they're in Winnipeg on Sunday night (6 p.m., NESN). Boston sleepwalked through a 2-1 shootout win against the Jets (5-7-1) in the second game of the season at the Garden.

2/17: Lucic will miss tonight's game in Winnipeg, he returned to Boston to deal with an undisclosed personal matter. That means Jay Pandalfo will make his Bruins debut with Rich Peverley getting bumped up to the first line and Daniel Paille shifting to the third line.

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Ryan Miller is still my hero

If you've learned anything from the Boston Bruins this season (that's assuming that you're still paying attention or ever bothered to waste your time on this hopeless franchise in the first place) it's that they'll do whatever is unexpected of them in any given game.

If they've been playing great, they're liable to be awful in the next game and lose. On the other hand, once you've left them for dead (which I've done so many times this season I've lost count) is when they step up and produce absurd results like Saturday's 5-0 win over Calgary.

Given that they were coming off one of their best performances of the season, it should have been no surprise that the B's faltered last night, losing 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres at the TD Garden.

All the usual suspects: shoddy goaltending by Tim Thomas, bad bounces, Dennis Wideman being a waste of life and struggling to score showed up against a team they could very possibly meet in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in a few weeks.

Things looked good when a red-hot David Krejci (his 17th, from Zdeno Chara) gave Boston (34-29-12) a 1-0 lead 7:43 into the game with a nifty move around Miller (40 saves) that he finished by poking the puck with his backhand.

Barely three minutes into the game Marco Sturm had drawn a penalty shot but he was predictably stuffed by Miller, the Team USA hero.

Less than four minutes after the Krejci goal, Buffalo (42-23-10) gained a 2-1 lead thanks to two goals that were deflected in off Wideman. Haha, really. Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers, the leading candidate for rookie of year, scored and then Paul Gausted (from Myers) added to Wideman and Thomas' season-long misery.

After a Dennis Seidenberg giveaway in the second period, Buffalo's Tim Kennedy made it 3-1 and Thomas' (11 saves) night was over as he got pulled for the sixth time this season. Tuukka Rask, who might as well play every remaining minute of the season, stepped in and stopped all 19 shots he faced.

Seidenberg got a little redemption late in the third as his long shot trickled in off Miller but the Bruins ran out of time before they could tie it up and sent it to overtime.

The good news is that Atlanta lost last night as well so the B's are still two points up on the Thrashers for the eighth spot in the East and the right to be embarrassed by Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals in four quick games.

The B's are back at it tonight with a game in New Jersey, another likely first round opponent.