Bruins Win in Shootout Over Sabres

(Photo: Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

Tuesday night’s tilt between the Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres was the first game after the NHL Trade deadline the day before. Interestingly enough Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar came from the Sabres to Boston while Anders Bjork went to Buffalo. The Bruins had also acquired Mike Reilly from the Edmonton Oilers. All three of the new Bruins suited up and Bjork was on the ice with Buffalo and sitting in a different dressing room from the one he knew so well in Boston.

Not surprisingly both Hall and Reilly started for the Bruins and everyone in the stands was expecting something instant from Hall. Of course, he’s with new line mates and playing a different system, which will understandably take a bit of getting used to. He also mentioned in his post trade interview that he hasn’t felt as confident of late. Hopefully his slotting in with David Krejci and Craig Smith on the second line will help. Krejci communicates well with his line mates on and off the ice but it may take a couple of games to get some chemistry going.

Meanwhile, for Bjork, he got an assist on the Sabres first goal of the game, had one shot on goal, and one missed shot in the game. Other than those opportunities, he seemed to be largely the same player he had been recently in Boston. The Sabres goal was their first shot on Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman and one of only five during the first period. The goal was scored by ex-Bruin Colin Miller at 1:52 of the opener and the other assist went to Dylan Cozens.

For some reason, just shy of five minutes into the first period there was a goaltender change for the Sabres. Linus Ullmark hadn’t appeared to have been hurt in any play up to that point, but at 4:54 after the whistle was blown for a Sabres icing, Ullmark skated off and Dustin Tokarski came on.

After Colin Miller’s goal it looked like the Bruins flipped a switch and began to improve their pace. Their game wasn’t perfect, but it was apparent that they were intent of accomplishing things during the game. Krejci tied the game at 13:20 with assists from Jérémy Lauzon and Smith. The Bruins found themselves down a man more times than they would have liked. Nick Ritchie had a boarding at 14:32. Just after Boston killed that penalty, Jake DeBrusk was sent off for hooking at 16:51 and then with 29 seconds remaining on his penalty, Lazar was whistled for high sticking. Boston managed to kill off the remainder of DeBrusk’s time and went into the intermission still down a man for 23 seconds.

The second period saw two fights and a goal for the Bruins. Ritchie and Matt Irwin got into it at 2:46 of the middle frame, though it wasn’t clear what sparked it. Charlie Coyle had blocked a shot by Irwin, so perhaps it was the result of retaliation on Coyle. Though the fight seemed to give a little more life to the Sabres than to the Bruins, it would be the Bruins who would notch the goal. Smith’s wrist shot, unassisted, came at 5:29 of the second.

Roughly six and a half minutes after the first fight, Bruins’ Miller had a hit on Rasmus Asplund that was heavy and Asplund went down. Tage Thompson took exception to the hit and went after Miller, who obligingly dropped the gloves. Honest respect for Thompson though for going against Miller. Miller is a beast when it comes to the fisticuffs and he easily dominated Thompson in the battle.

Boston took the one-goal lead into the second intermission, but this certainly wasn’t a no ow out situation for the Bruins. They outshot Buffalo through the two periods 24-12, but some of the expected goal scorers such as Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak were struggling. Marchand only had two shots on net and one missed shot, while Pastrnak had one on net, one that was blocked and three that missed the net. He appears to be overthinking as his scoring drought continues.

The Bruins did manage to remain out of the penalty box—aside from the fighting majors—through the second and third periods, which was important. Despite having the top penalty kill in the league, they had already played with fire in the first period.  Meanwhile, the Sabres were called for just one penalty, a holding on Irwin, 16:29 into the second period. The Bruins power play hasn’t been at its best, so perhaps it was not a surprise when they were not only unable to convert on the man advantage, but Buffalo prevented them from getting a single shot on net.

Despite leading by a goal, the Bruins’ tempo changed somewhat during the third period, which gave the Sabres an opening to tie the game 11:53 into the third. Unable to clear the puck from their defensive end more than once, the Bruins gave the Sabres an opportunity to put the puck on Swayman. Chris Wagner’s giveaway at 11:19 allowed the Sabres to regain possession in the offensive zone, where they remained until Rasmus Dahlin garnered the tying marker—which actually deflected off of Kevan Miller’s stick.

The teams would remain knotted throughout the remainder of the third period—with the Sabres having more puck possession and outshooting the Bruins 10-7—taking the game to overtime. During the extra inning the Bruins had three opportunities on Tokarski, as opposed to the one the Sabres had on Swayman. And just as the clock was running down, Casey Mittlestadt got a tripping penalty as the horn sounded.

In the end the game was decided in the shootout. Buffalo shot first and Swayman denied Victor Olofsson. Meanwhile at the other end, Coyle put his past Tokarski. The second round saw the Sabres put Thompson out and once again Swayman was up to the task. DeBrusk finished things off when his wrist shot ended up in the back of the net giving the Bruins the win.