David Backes returned to the Bruins lineup and made the most of it Saturday night.
The Boston winger was suspended three games for an illegal check to the head of New Jersey Devils’ Blake Coleman. Head coach Bruce Cassidy inserted Backes on the second line, playing alongside David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk. Backes fought hard all night and made his biggest contribution in the second period of the B’s 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden.
With the B’s holding onto a 1-0 lead, Backes skated the puck up ice before snapping a high shot past Sabres netminder Linus Ullmark just two minutes into the middle frame. The tally proved to be the game-winner as Buffalo netted a goal late in the third.
“He did a nice job,” Cassidy said after the game, as seen on NESN’s Bruins postgame coverage. “He got to feel out how Jake (DeBrusk) and (David Krejci) play. It’s probably been a year since he’s been with them, for the most part. Finished a nice play, ends up getting the game-winning goal on a great shot. That’s his shot. … Puck finds him, off he goes … he really helped us win the game tonight.”
The bench boss also noted slotting Backes into the second line provides him with more scoring chances.
“Well, he knows if he goes up in the lineup that that’s more of an opportunity to score, and he wants to score,” Cassidy said, via a team-provided transcript. “He’s scored in this league. He’s not (David) Pastrnak, but he’s a 15 to 20 – whatever you want to paint him as in – and 15 to 25, somewhere in there, throughout his career. What was it last year? 17? So, he’s behind the pace, but if he gets the chance to play a little more, their power play comes around a little more, then maybe he can butt up against that number this year if he gets hot and stays in that role. But that remains to be seen, but I’m sure he’s excited about it, to see a few more pucks in that scoring area.”
Backes had five shots on goal Saturday and now has four goals and seven assists on the season. He had points in three of his last five games before getting hit with the suspension.
Here are some other notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Sabres game:
— Tuukka Rask nows is just three wins shy from tying Tiny Thompson for most victories by a goalie in Bruins history.
—Â Boston had a goal disallowed in the first 20 seconds of the opening period after the officials ruled Sean Kuraly interfered with Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark when Chris Wagner scored. Wagner answered back halfway through the first when put the B’s up 1-0
“When Wags scored I didn’t know what happened,” Kuraly told NESN’s Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley after the game. “I guess I got a piece of (Ullmark) … and you can’t get a piece of the goalie. When he’s out of the crease like that it’s hard to swallow.
— Cassidy was impressed with the fourth line in the win and noted despite how tough it’s been to score goals have been for them, they were a huge momentum-builder through the game.
— Boston now has a four-game winning streak.
