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Stafford’s Hat Trick Sends Buffalo Over Bruins

The Boston Bruins took the lead twice in Wednesday night’s matchup against the Buffalo Sabres, but Buffalo’s Drew Stafford scored a natural hat trick to secure the Sabres’ 3-2 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night.

Boston scored first with a goal from David Krejci, who went to the net as Dennis Seidenberg took a shot. Krejci directed it past Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller (32 saves). The goal came at 17 minutes, 29 seconds into the first period and was Krejci’s fifth this season.

But just over a minute later, Stafford scored a power-play goal on his backhand after Milan Lucic was called for boarding. Stafford’s first goal came after much pressure on Bruins’ netminder Tuukka Rask (32 saves).

Michael Ryder took the lead again for the Bruins after a scoreless second period. Ryder scored a power-play goal to put the Bruins up, 2-1, at 6:21 in the third.

But, Stafford did it again, just over 30 seconds later. Stafford also tallied his third goal, and the game winner, at 10:55 in the third after Shawn Thornton was sent to the box for interference on Miller.

The game ended with a fight between Zdeno Chara and Buffalo’s Paul Gaustad.

Game Notes

• Tyler Seguin missed Wednesday’s game with the flu.
• Bruins’ right winger Mark Recchi played his 1,600th game – the ninth NHL player to do so.

Tags: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Drew Stafford, Ryan Miller