The Boston Bruins have rarely played “complete” hockey over the last two months, alternating losses with frustrating, indecisive victories. And on those few occasions when they submitted a complete game, they never followed it with a second.

No more.

The Bruins capitalized on two goals in the final period Thursday night at TD Garden, beating the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1. The Bruins have now won two in a row for the first time since Jan. 10 and 12.

Boychuk, Bruins Finish Game in Style

The Bruins came out of the second intermission playing confident, aggressive hockey. They dominated the opening two minutes of the third, firing five times at Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth and forcing him to make two saves. Enroth survived the early scare, but his team could do little to give him any breathing room, with the Bruins defense’s back-pressure limiting the speedy Sabres’ scoring opportunities and man-advantages.

The Bruins played an incredibly physical game, out-hitting the Sabres 30-23, including 12-7 in the third. The biggest hit came from Johnny Boychuk, who midway through the period leveled left winger Thomas Vanek with a completely clean, open-ice check just inside the Sabres’ zone.

As a reward for his Garden-energizing hit, Boychuk scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with just over seven minutes left in the game. Jordan Caron began the sequence with a takeaway in the Sabres’ zone, forcing defenseman Jordan Leopold to dive to block Caron’s shot.

Leopold blocked the puck with his stick, but the puck slid to an awaiting Boychuk in the right circle. Boychuk ripped a slapshot just under the crossbar for the 2-1 lead. Caron got the assist on Boychuck’s first goal since early December.

The goal briefly aroused the Sabres’ slowed-down offense, leading to two shots at Tim Thomas in two seconds. But the Sabres failed to tie the game, and Zdeno Chara took momentum back with some nifty stick-handling, weaving the puck around several Sabres before finding Tyler Seguin just outside the blue line.

Seguin fed the puck up to Milan Lucic, who took the puck to the Buffalo left circle before threading a pass to David Krejci in the slot. Krejci drifted just to the right of the goal before lifting his shot just under the crossbar for a 3-1 lead at 15:54. Both Lucic and Seguin earned assists.

The Sabres tried once more to get back in the game, even pulling Enroth with just over two minutes left, but Thomas saved anything that got through to him. He finished with 19 saves in 20 attempts.

Caron nearly added an empty-net goal late in the game, but his shot sailed above the goal. In his last three games, Caron has scored three goals and recorded three assists.

Sabres Score in First, Bruins Tie in Second

Despite the Bruins dominating the first period, out-performing the Sabres in shots (13-6), hits (9-5) and faceoffs (13-6), the Sabres scored first. Right winger Jason Pominville received the puck in the neutral zone from Vanek, then took it across the blue line.

Chara may have been trying to angle Pominville to the side to protect against a 2-on-1, but instead Pominville just skated into the Bruins’ right circle and ripped a slapshot above Thomas’ glove for the 1-0 lead at 16:39 in the first period.

For much of the second period, the Bruins couldn’t capitalize on any of several scoring opportunities. Enroth saved a shot against Lane MacDermid two minutes in, then just over nine minutes in denied Seguin on the kind of breakaway Seguin normally buries with style. When Dennis Seidenberg‘s slapshot from 55 feet ringed off the goalpost, it looked like the Bruins might fall victim to a fluke performance from Enroth, who in his previous 10 games had gone 0-7-2 with a GAA over 3.00.

That all changed with two minutes to go, when a pass from Sabre defenseman Christian Ehrhoff in his right circle kicked off Cody Hodgson‘s skate in the high slot. The puck slid to Shawn Thornton, who immediately ripped a shot at Enroth.

Gregory Campbell – whose forechecking on Ehrhoff led to the bad pass – brought raised his stick and redirected the shot midair above Enroth’s glove to tie the game 1-1.

With the streak of games without consecutive wins finally over, hopefully the Bruins can either finally start chipping away at the Rangers’ eight-point lead atop the Eastern Conference, or at least put some real distance between themselves and the Senators in the race for the Northeast Division. Boston returns to the ice Saturday afternoon against Washington.

© Matt Goisman for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

The Buffalo Sabres played Wednesday’s game as a team desperately needing wins to keep its playoff hopes alive should: intelligent but physical, controlled but aggressive.

The Boston Bruins played as a team with a chance at the Eastern Conference’s top spot should not: lazy, disorganized, brainless.

Who do you think won?

The Sabres scored twice in each period Wednesday, cruising to a 6-0 blowout victory over the Bruins in Buffalo.

Poor Defense Rattles Rask

It was clear just minutes into the game that Tuukka Rask hadn’t brought his A-game to First Niagara Center. When Christian Ehrhoff fired from the blue line following a d-to-d pass from Tyler Myers, Rask misjudged the puck once it glanced off Gregory Campbell, giving the Sabres a 1-0 lead on just their second shot of the game.

The Sabres went up 2-0 with just over five minutes left in the first when center Ville Leino made a nifty spin in the Bruins’ left circle, avoiding the defense and centering the puck to Jason Pominville. Pominville quickly chipped it in, with defenseman Mike Weber also assisting.

Clearly rattled by two goals that were as much his defense’s fault as his own, Rask lasted just 1:52 into the second period, when Andrej Sekera found Tyler Ennis in the neutral zone. Ennis changed direction twice in the Bruins’ zone, eluding multiple defenders before ricocheting a backhand off the goalpost and in for the 3-0 lead.

Rask exited the game following Ennis’ goal, having given up three goals in just 10 shots. It was his worst outing since lasting just one period and giving up three goals to the same Sabres on Jan. 1, 2010.

Thomas Can’t Hold Off Sabres Long

Tim Thomas replaced Rask, and for the first few minutes Thomas’ aggressive, energetic goaltending looked like it might hold the Sabres off long enough for a Bruins comeback. Following an interference call against a Zdeno Chara four minutes into the second, Thomas survived a Sabres power play in which they fired off seven rapid-fire shots before the Bruins finally cleared.

But such success would not last, especially with the unfocused, out-of-position hockey the defense continued to play. Strong puck possession by center Paul Gaustad in the Bruins’ circle led to a tight-angle shot for Patrick Kaleta. The puck deflected off Adam McQuaid‘s skates and between Thomas’ pads for a 4-0 lead late in the second.

The Bruins’ defense checked out for good in the third, leading to two more Sabres goals. Pominville scored his second when the Bruins left him completely alone in the crease for an easy rebound goal (Leino and original-shooter Sekera assisted) at 1:18. Then Joe Corvo turned the puck over behind his own goal, leading to a simple two-stage pass from Nathan Gerbe to Ennis to Drew Stafford in front for a 6-0 lead with a minute left.

Miller and Defense Dominate Bruins

The Bruins appeared to tie the game midway through the first when Milan Lucic put a slapshot past Sabre goalie Ryan Miller, but a goalie-interference call against Rich Peverley wiped out the goal. Replays showed only the barest contact between the two.

That was the closest the Bruins would get to an actual goal Wednesday, as both Miller and his defense played error-free hockey the rest of the game, including through the Bruins’ 17 third-period shots (out of 36 total). The defense completely neutralized the Bruins’ fore-checking, always finding open men to advance the puck back across the blue line. They quickly cleared most shots Miller couldn’t corral to the sides, and they stood the Bruins up on those rare occasions when a loose puck bounced in front of the net.

The Sabres controlled the puck better, giving nothing away on defense. They passed better, hitting teammates in stride and on the stick-blades. And they skated better, winning numerous sprints for the puck.

The Brutal Bruins

Buffalo handled all the physicality the Bruins brought to the game – three fighting majors, three 10 minute misconducts and six two-minute penalties – without backing down or losing focus. No pointless, juvenile display of idiotic brutality (sorry: no “hockey fight“) upset Buffalo enough for them to make a mistake, and Boston never came away from a fight so fired up they made a play themselves.

Not even the massive “brawl” in the final minutes of the game – in which the referees handed out nine penalties – disrupted the Sabres’ near-perfect performance. Which begs the question: if fights don’t really motivate, or at least not as much as actually playing well, what point do they serve?

© Matt Goisman for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

The Bruins fell to a hungrier, more desperate Buffalo Sabres team Thursday night, failing to protect two separate one-goal leads and eventually losing to their division rival, 4-2 at the Garden.

Boston’s energy and effort was flat for much of the contest, especially down the stretch. They opened up the scoring midway through the first period, when Dennis Seidenberg ripped a shot through traffic, and with the help of a great screen from Nathan Horton in front, the puck beat Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller to give the B’s an early 1-0 advantage.

Buffalo’s Cody McCormick evened the score early in the second period, knocking home his own rebound past Tuukka Rask to knot the game at one a piece. The B’s got the lead back later in the period on a goal from Gregory Campbell, one of the hottest skaters in Black and Gold. Campbell has four goals and four assists in his last seven games.

From there though, it was all Sabres, all the time. Buffalo tied the game again before the end of the second period on a Nathan Gerbe goal. The former BC standout beat Rask over his left shoulder for the Sabres’ second goal of the night. Buffalo got their game-winner off the stick of their leading goal scorer, winger Thomas Vanek. Vanek beat Rask on an unassisted goal to give the Sabres a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Jason Pominville added a tip-in goal in the final minutes of the game to round out the scoring on the evening, putting the finishing touches on Buffalo’s 4-2 road win.

From here, the B’s go from one snowy locale to another, as they head west to face the Colorado Avalanche in a Saturday matinee at the Pepsi Center. They’ll continue west to Los Angeles for a Monday night battle with the Kings before returning home to wrap up their pre-All Star break schedule Wednesday night when they host the Florida Panthers.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2011. | Permalink | One comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

Buffalo is a mess right now, plain and simple. They return home Wednesday after a 1-2-1 road trip, which wrapped up Saturday with a 4-0 whooping in Dallas. Only the New Jersey Devils (7) have less points than the Sabres (8) have (Florida and Edmonton also have eight, but with less games played).

Speaking of less games played, no one has played less games than the eight the Bruins have skated through so far this season. But with a red hot Tim Thomas in goal, they are off to one of their best starts in recent memory. Thomas, who is the likely starter Wednesday, is 6-0-0, making him the first Bruins goaltender since Tiny Thompson in the late 1930’s, to win his first six starts of the regular season. Thomas leads the league with his .984 save percentage, his 0.50 goals against average, and his three shutouts, including back-to-back goose eggs against Toronto and Ottawa. His incredible start earned him the NHL’s Second Star for the month of October (behind Tampa’s Steven Stamkos), and this past week, he earned the league’s First Star.

But enough about Thomas… let’s look at this matchup in a broader light. Now, some more pregame notes to get you ready for Wednesday’s tilt in Buffalo…

- Boston won four of the six matchups against Buffalo during the regular season last year, and then pulled the playoff upset, ousting the Sabres in the first round as the sixth seed.

- Buffalo is still looking for their first win at HSBC Arena this season… so far, they are a dismal 0-4-1 at home. On the contrary, taking away the split “home-and-home” series in Prague to open the year, the B’s are unbeaten on the road, winning their first three true road games.

- While Boston’s goaltending is off to an unbelievable start, Buffalo’s netminders definitely are not. Ryan Miller (3-5-2, 2.71GAA), the golden boy of last year’s U.S. Olympic team, has struggled, and is now hurt and will be out of action Wednesday as he nurses a lower body injury. His backup, Patrick Lalime (0-2-0, 4.03GAA) will get the start Wednesday, while recent call-up Jonas Enroth will be second in command.

- The injuries don’t stop there for the Sabres, as they’ll be without former Boston College standout Nathan Gerbe for the next few weeks. Gerbe’s face got in the way of a Tyler Myers slapshot in Friday’s game, breaking Gerbe’s jaw. Ouch. However, the team will get Jason Pominville back on the ice Wednesday, with doctors clearing him to return to action, having missed the team’s last nine games recovering from an early season concussion.

- Buffalo’s scoring is led by center Derek Roy, the only bright spot for the Sabres thus far. Roy has a half dozen goals and seven assists through the team’s first 12 games. Beyond Roy, five other Sabres are tied for second in points on the team, with seven each.

- Veteran Sabre Mike Grier will play in his 1,000th NHL game Wednesday. He will be the 254th player to reach that mark.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins.

A pair of goals by former Sabre Daniel Paille and 43 saves by the team’s new golden goalie Tuukka Rask helped the B’s earn their second straight win Tuesday night over the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 in the shootout. The loss marks Buffalo’s fifth straight defeat. Coupled with Ottawa’s win over Calgary, the Sabres now have fallen into a tie atop the Northeast Division with the Sens, at 72 points.

Paille potted his first goal of the night in the fifth minute of the game, wrapping the puck past Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller off of a Marc Savard drop pass. Paille gave the B’s yet another early 2-0 lead before the first period’s end, deflecting a Zdeno Chara slapshot by Miller to help Boston to a two-goal advantage they would try to protect.

They failed.

In the second, the Sabres stormed back, first with a Derek Roy goal on a 5-on-3 situation, cutting the deficit in half. Later in the period, it was the big rookie blue liner Tyler Myers who lit the lamp, tying the game with a long-distance wrister to knot the game at two. The two teams went scoreless in a third period and five-minute overtime period that was highlighted by superior goaltending at both ends by Rask and Miller.

Come shootout time, it was Buffalo’s Jason Pominville who got Buffalo the early advantage. Marco Sturm followed with a goal of his own, tying the contest back up. After two more rounds of scoreless attempts, Boston’s David Krejci sealed the win for the Black and Gold, pushing the puck past Ryan Miller for the game-winner.

Boston has now earned points in five of their last six games, going 2-1-3 during the stretch. They continue their road trip Thursday when they play the first of a pair of games in the Sunshine State, starting in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. They will complete their pre-Olympic schedule Saturday in Sunrise, skating against the Panthers.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2010. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

The Sabres’ roster remained mainly unchanged from last year, a year that saw Buffalo outside of the playoff picture for the second straight season. Instead of making roster changes, they decided to put all their eggs in one basket. That basket is a healthy Ryan Miller. Miller, who is looking for his fifth straight 30-win season, is well on his way to achieving that mark. He has posted an astonishing 1.89GAA thus far, and is tied for the league lead with a .936 save percentage. Friday night was just the first time this season that Miller had given up four goals in the loss to Philly.

For Boston, the Black & Gold will welcome back gritty fourth line winger Byron Bitz to the lineup. He missed the last three contests, battling a groin injury. To make room, Mikko Lehtonen was optioned back down to Providence.

Boston will look to stop an 0-for-20 stretch on their powerless power play in their last six games. The Bruins haven’t gone seven games without a power play goal since 2003.

Here now, a few newsworthy nuggets about the opponent, the Sabres.

• Buffalo is the only NHL team that Boston has never swept a season series from. Last season, the team split six meetings.
• The goalie matchup will feature two netminders that will likely be heading to Vancouver in February to represent the United States in the Winter Olympics. Miller, who has started all but one game this season for Buffalo, and Bruins’ goalie Tim Thomas, reigning Vezina trophy winner, are both likely to take two of the three goalie spots for the U.S. Olympic hockey team. The other spot is probably going to Colorado goaltender Craig Anderson.
• Leading the way for Buffalo’s offense this season is center Tim Connolly (4G, 8A), who will be playing his 300th NHL game on Saturday. Also atop the Buffalo stat sheet is center Derek Roy (2G, 9A) who has led the team in points the last two seasons, and Jason Pominville (3G, 7A). Tomas Vanek (3G, 4A) is coming off his second career 40-goal season last year.
• The B’s will get their first look at Sabres’ rookie defenseman Tyler Myers. The 19-year-old Myers, who has three goals and four assists thus far, is the second tallest player in the NHL at a towering 6’8″, just an inch shorter than Bruins’ captain Zdeno Chara. Myers, in just his rookie season, is 3rd on the team in ice time, playing 20:48 per night.
• Boston will welcome back ex-Bruin Steve Montador to the Garden tonight. Montador joined the Black & Gold at the trade deadline last season from Anaheim. Montador, who went to Buffalo in the offseason as a free agent, has three assists this year.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins.