Make it four straight wins for the Bruins.
Boston welcomed the Sabres to TD Garden on Saturday night for an Atlantic Division matchup and gained a crucial two points in the standings. Buffalo made things interesting late in the third by coming within a goal, but Tuukka Rask stood tall and stopped 31 of 32 shots en route to the B’s 2-1 victory.
Chris Wagner scored the first goal for Boston while David Backes, in his first game back from his three-game suspension, added the second tally.
With the win, Boston improved to 24-14-4, while Buffalo slipped to 22-14-6
Here’s how it all went down:
CHRIS WAGNER MAKES IT COUNT
Wagner appeared to put Boston up 1-0 just 20 seconds after the puck dropped when he netted the rebound off a Sean Kuraly shot, but the officials immediately waved it off due to Kuraly running into Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark. The B’s challenged to no avail and the game remained scoreless.
Wagner got a second chance halfway through the opening period after Rasmus Dahlin turned the puck over to Noel Acciari, who poked it to Wagner before he beat Ullmark to put the B’s up 1-0.
BACKES DOUBLES IT
Backes put to rest any questions about whether he’d be rusty coming into his return just two minutes into the second period.
The second-line winger took the puck up ice before ripping a high shot over Ullmark’s glove to give Boston a 2-0 edge.
BUFFALO ANSWERS LATE
The Sabres finally got their first goal of the game with 2:38 left to play.
Rasmus Ristolainen cut the deficit in half when he finally beat Rask glove side. It was Ristolainen’s fifth tally of the season.
Boston killed off a two-shot Buffalo power play and Rask came up big in the third to help lead the Bruins to preserve the victory.
UP NEXT
The B’s look to make it five in a row when they welcome the Minnesota Wild to TD Garden on Tuesday. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.
This Bruins Wrap is brought to you by Plainridge Park Casino.
