After an even first period and a lackluster second, the Buffalo Sabres rallied for three goals in the third period en route to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Friday, Feb. 15.
The Sabres opened the scoring 3:24 into the opening period with Drew Stafford’s first goal of the season, after going the first 14 games of the season without a goal. Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference turned the puck over behind his own net to Tyler Ennis, who then sent a pass out to Drew Stafford in front of the net who rifled a one-timer past Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin.
After narrowly missing on a couple scoring chances later in the opening period, including two shots off the iron, the Bruins finally cashed in with a power play goal by rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Bruins forward Tyler Seguin passed the puck from behind the Sabres net to forward David Krejci, who took a shot from the bottom of the right circle that was blocked by Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff right in front of the net. Krejci, however, picked up his own rebound and sent a pass to Hamilton at the top of the slot. Hamilton then fired a one-time slap shot that beat Ryan Miller for his first career NHL goal, and evened the score at one a piece with 2:04 remaining in the first period.
The Bruins then took the lead 2:29 into the second period on a fluky goal. Dougie Hamilton shot the puck deep into the Sabres zone that caromed high off the end boards to right in front of the Sabres net, where Bruins forward Rich Peverley took the puck in the low slot and shot it past Miller.
The Bruins maintained the pressure for the bulk of the second period, outshooting the Sabres 17-6 in the period. Ryan Miller however held the fort for Buffalo, keeping them within one goal going into the third period.
The Sabres got the equalizer 2:03 into the third period with a goal from Tyler Myers. Nathan Gerbe took the puck at center ice after Steve Ott cleared the puck out of the Sabres zone, setting up a 2-on-1. Gerbe then carried it across the blue line along the right wing and sent a pass over to his left to Jochen Hecht, who tipped it on net from the low slot. Anton Khudobin made the initial save, but gave up the rebound to Myers, who backhanded it into the net with Khudobin out of position and knotted the game up at two.
Christian Ehrhoff then gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead just under seven minutes later. Drew Stafford carried the puck into the offensive zone on a rush and took a shot from the right faceoff dot that Khudobin stopped. The puck then bounced to the right edge of the trapezoid behind the Boston net, where Stafford took the puck and sent a bouncing pass to Ehrhoff at the top of the slot, who wristed a shot past Khudobin high on the stick side.
Cody Hodgson put the Sabres up two goals 2:43 later with his sixth goal of the season. Tyler Myers worked the puck into the corner in the Boston zone and then threw the puck to the front of the net, where Hodgson then redirected the puck into the net on the short side for a 4-2 Sabres lead, which ended up being the final score. Ryan Miller faced 32 shots during the game, stopping 30 of them. Miller is now 6-6-1 on the season with a .916 Save Percentage and a 2.82 Goals Against Average. Miller also leads the NHL in shots faced with 431, and saves with 395.
Anton Khudobin made 24 saves for the Bruins while facing 28 shots.
With the win, the Sabres move to 6-8-1 on the season. Their next game is at home on Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 12:30 p.m Eastern. The game will be nationally televised on NBC.
Comments