BOSTON — The Bruins had a chance to make a statement. They could have built off this week’s impressive home-and-home sweep of Carolina, given themselves a boost before heading out on the road again and further demoralized a reeling division rival in the process.
Instead, they turned in one of their weaker efforts of the season. They squandered a pair of one-goal leads, but still had chance to pull out the victory in the third period. Boston has dominated the third all season, outscoring opponents 59-26 coming into Thursday, an NHL-best plus-33 differential.
But it was Buffalo that turned up the intensity in the third, and the Sabres cashed in with a pair of late goals for a 4-2 victory over the Bruins at the Garden.
“I don’t think there’s much to say here except that we were totally flat tonight, from the first player to the last,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “So it’s not about pointing to one or pointing to the other, we came out flat tonight and never seemed to find our game. Even in the third period, you are coming in there tied and you got an opportunity, 20 minutes again, to seal your fate and it just wasn’t happening tonight.”
The Sabres came in undermanned with star scorers Derek Roy and Drew Stafford, who had seven goals in three games against the Bruins this year, both out injured, then lost Patrick Kaleta and Mike Weber to injuries blocking shots during the game.
But Buffalo kept paying the price to make plays, while the Bruins were just going through the motions.
“We didn’t have everybody going, and that’s what happens when you don’t have everybody going,” Bruins forward Mark Recchi said. “When we have 20 people going, we’re really tough to play against. But when we don’t have everybody going and competing at the level that we should, it just makes it hard for us. I think we know that and we’ve been a lot better at that lately. We just have to keep learning from these ones and [know] when we do have these there’s reasons why.”
Boston was playing its third game in four days, but at least the Bruins weren’t trying to use that as a crutch for their lack of energy.
“There’s no question it’s a heavy workload, but that’s no excuse,” said Bruins forward Greg Campbell, who scored Boston’s second goal. “We’ve had a lot of opportunities to rest. The coaching staff’s been good about that. I wouldn’t blame it on that. It’s our job as professionals to be prepared for every game. There’s not 82 games that you’re going to feel great, but you’ve got to find other ways. You’ve got to play smart, simple and find a way to win.”
It was the Sabres who did that, taking advantage of Boston turnovers to counterattack with odd-man rushes.
“They capitalized on their chances,” Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference said. “They took advantage of our mistakes and turnovers. They made the most of what they got.
“They’re a really good rush team,” Ference added. “That’s one of their strengths. You know what’s coming because they’re consistent with the D-men jumping up and having a fourth attacker. They’re consistent in driving the net and putting pucks there.”
The Bruins were quick to credit Buffalo, but they also shouldered their share of the blame for the outcome.
“It’s what we didn’t do,” said defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, who scored the Bruins’ first goal, when asked what Buffalo had done to beat them. “I mean we just didn’t take care of the puck good enough to win that third period. Usually we put the pucks in good areas, and we just gave them too many turnovers and too many odd-man rushes and they used those chances to score.”
Recchi agreed, but also expressed a desire that the Bruins would learn from their failure in this one.
“It wasn’t our game,” Recchi said. “It wasn’t what we’re capable of doing. … Again, [we need to] learn that consistency is a big part of us being a great team instead of just a real good team. We’re getting there. We just have to keep pushing along.”
