For the second time in as many games, the Boston Bruins were unable to finish off an Atlantic Division bottom-feeder in regulation. But unlike in their overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins claimed two points Thursday night in their matchup with the Buffalo Sabres.
Ryan Spooner and Brad Marchand each scored for Boston, and Spooner added the deciding goal in a shootout to give the Bruins a 3-2 win over the Sabres at the First Niagara Center.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Each team killed off a penalty during a scoreless five-minute overtime session, sending the game to a shootout. Spooner fired a wrist shot past goalie Chad Johnson to kick things off, and Brian Gionta, Evander Kane and Ryan O’Reilly all came up empty for the Sabres to seal the win for the Bruins.
Spooner is 3-for-3 on shootout attempts this season.
SABRES STRIKE FIRST
A miscommunication between David Pastrnak and Kevan Miller helped set up the game’s first goal.
Neither Pastrnak nor Miller jumped on the puck following a Johnson save, resulting in a turnover. Gionta rang the post on the ensuing rush down the ice, but Kane jammed a shot past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask a few seconds later to put Buffalo ahead 1-0 midway through the first period.
Kane’s tally was the only goal of the period, with the teams combining for just 11 shots on net.
WAKE-UP CALL
The Sabres added to their lead less than a minute into the second, with Sam Reinhart deflecting a Mark Pysyk shot into the back of the net. It was only after this that the Bruins’ offense finally began to stir.
Spooner flipped a backhander into the Buffalo net just 58 seconds later to put Boston on the board and give the young centerman 16 points in his last 16 games.
Johnson, a former Bruins backup, denied Pastrnak later in the frame following a pretty setup by David Krejci and Loui Eriksson, and Buffalo maintained its one-goal advantage heading into the final 20 minutes.
DOING IT HIMSELF
The Bruins pulled even at the 2:44 mark of the third period thanks to a phenomenal individual effort by Marchand.
Following a defensive-zone faceoff win by Patrice Bergeron, Marchand, who leads the team in goals this season, took it the length of the ice himself, weaving in and out of Sabres defenders before fitting the puck between Johnson and the right post.
The goal was Marchand’s 23rd of the season — bringing him to within five of his career high — and his eighth in as many games. Bergeron was credited with the assist, giving the center seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last eight games.
UP NEXT
The B’s and Sabres will be back at it Saturday night when they wrap up their home-and-home at TD Garden.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images
