BOSTON — The Bruins escaped Sunday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres with a much-needed win.
A goal from Dougie Hamilton — his second of the game — with 1:31 remaining in regulation tied the score at three goals apiece and forced overtime, where Loui Eriksson scored at 2:15 of the period to secure two points for the B’s.
Boston will host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at TD Garden in its final game before the holiday break.
Here are the “3 Stars” from Bruins-Sabres.
No. 3 Star: Zdeno Chara, Defenseman, Bruins
The Bruins captain tallied two assists, one on Chris Kelly’s second-period goal and the other on Dougie Hamilton’s third-period tally, for his first multi-point game of the season.
Chara also helped Boston dominate puck possession with a team-leading plus-24 Corsi (38 shot attempts for, 14 against) at even strength. He also led the Bruins with 27:24 of ice time, which included 1:59 of penalty kill time.
No. 2 Star: Loui Eriksson, Right Wing, Bruins
Eriksson scored his second overtime goal of the season and the eighth OT tally of his career. The only player with more overtime goals than Eriksson since the start of the 2008-09 campaign is Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin (10).
Eriksson earned a secondary assist on Dougie Hamilton’s power-play goal in the first period, giving him four multi-point games this season. He also has scored four goals with two assists in his last seven games.
The veteran winger started the game on the top line alongside David Krejci and Milan Lucic but was switched back to his usual third-line spot with Carl Soderberg and Chris Kelly later on, and the move paid dividends for B’s head coach Claude Julien.
“I’m feeling good. Starting to score goals now again,” Eriksson said. “I’m finding those pucks. The last couple games we’ve been creating a lot of chances, too. When me, (Kelly) and (Soderberg) play together we always seem to get some chances. I thought we had some chances with (Lucic) and (Krejci) today, too, when I played with them. But that first shift with Kells and Carl we scored, so it was good in that way.”
No. 1 Star: Dougie Hamilton, Defenseman, Bruins
Hamilton opened the scoring with a power-play goal from inside the right faceoff circle at 5:52 of the first period. It was the Bruins’ second goal with the man advantage in their last 30 attempts.
Hamilton also picked up a secondary assist on Chris Kelly’s late second-period goal that tied the score 2-2.
Hamilton helped the Bruins force overtime with a late third-period goal from the left faceoff circle. It was his seventh goal of the season, which leads all Bruins defensemen. He also leads the team’s blueliners in scoring with 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 34 games.
The 21-year-old D-man finished with six shots, one blocked shot, three hits and a plus-21 Corsi at even strength in 25:58 of ice time (0:37 on the power play, 1:09 on the penalty kill).
“(Hamilton) was aggressive at the right times,” Julien said. “He had a solid game tonight.”
GIFs via Twitter/@PeteBlackburn
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
