The Boston Bruins found themselves facing another early deficit Thursday night, but this time they completed a successful comeback and prevailed in a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center.
Ryan Spooner scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period and then added an empty-net tally to seal Boston’s win and end the team’s two-game skid.
The Bruins improve to 19-15-4 with the victory, while Buffalo drops to 13-14-8.
Here’s how it all went down.
ANOTHER BAD START
Marcus Foligno opened the scoring from the slot just 1:32 into the game with a shot that beat B’s goalie Tuukka Rask. The Sabres forward was wide open and took advantage of his scoring chance.
The Bruins took the first penalty of the game a short while later, and even though they killed it off, Dominic Moore had a breakaway chance to tie the score and was denied by Sabres goalie Robin Lehner. Boston went on the penalty kill again later in the period and successfully killed it.
The B’s weren’t so lucky on their third penalty kill of the period, though, as Matt Moulson doubled his team’s lead with a power-play goal.
The Bruins went 0-for-2 on their own power-play opportunities in the opening period.
LINESMEN FAILING AT GAME MANAGEMENT
Adam McQuaid and Sabres forward Will Carrier wanted to fight in the first period, and they started to throw punches as the linesmen intervened and tried to break it up. In doing so, they allowed Carrier to get in some easy punches on McQuaid. Watch the full fight here.
PATRICE POTS ONE
Patrice Bergeron scored his sixth goal of the season at 3:32 of the second period to cut Buffalo’s lead in half. Brad Marchand’s pretty pass set it up.
FORWARD OUT
The Bruins lost center David Backes in the first period when he was clobbered by the benches at center ice while trying to dump the puck in the attacking zone. Carrier laid the hit, and he was penalized two minutes for an illegal check to the head. Boston officially ruled out Backes for the remainder of the game in the second period.
TIE GAME!
The Bruins finally capitalized on the power play when David Krejci tied the score 2-2 with a goal at 16:13 of the second period. Krejci now has scored in back-to-back games, and his point streak has been extended to three games.
SPOONER STRIKES
Spooner scored on a one-timer with 3:53 left in regulation to give the Bruins their first lead of the game at 3-2. It was a perfectly placed shot through traffic. Krejci and Frank Vatrano picked up assists on the goal.
UP NEXT
The Bruins return to TD Garden on Saturday afternoon to finish their back-to-back against the Sabres. Puck drop is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Timothy T. Ludwig/USA TODAY Sports Images.
