How good are things going for the Bruins these days? Well, they can show up for only one period and change and still come away with a victory.
That was the case on Saturday in Buffalo at least, when the Bruins woke up late in the second period and then pulled away from the Sabres for a 3-1 win.
It would not have been possible if not for some stellar work from Keith Kinkaid, who stepped in between the pipes and turned away 30 Buffalo shots for the victory.
After sleepwalking through the first half of the game, the Bruins took their first lead of the game with 7:29 left in regulation.
After the fourth line forwards won a couple of puck battles behind the net, Tomas Nosek circled out into the left wing area and fed an onrushing Jakub Zboril, who beat Craig Anderson with a sharp, high wrist shot for his first career NHL goal. For the third time in two games, Nick Foligno was parked in front of the net for the goal.
Then, after Kinkaid made some key stops, Patrice Bergeron ended it with 1:49 left with his second goal of the game.
The Bruins decided to go with the third string goalie, giving workhorse Linus Ullmark the night off to prepare for Sunday’s game against Vancouver at home.
And with the way they started Saturday’s game, it looked like everyone but Kinkaid was approaching this one as a throwaway game.
Just 4:45 into the game, the Bruins went on the power play when rookie Owen Power crosschecked Brad Marchand. And that was it for Bruin highlights for the period.
Coach Jim Montgomery went with five forwards for the power play again and, this time, it blew up on the Bruins. David Pastrnak skated into a crowd at the Buffalo blue line and 6-foot-7 forward Tage Thompson came away with the puck. With only David Krejci back, Thompson used his massive reach to turn the veteran inside out and then he cut to his forehand to beat Kinkaid in tight at 5:17.
Kinkaid kept the Bruins in the game the rest of the first period, coming up with a couple of big stops as the Sabres outshot the Bruins 10-5 in the period.
On a late penalty kill, the Bruins nearly tied it when Charlie Coyle broke out on a 2-on-1 with Nosek, but Coyle’s wrister clanged the crossbar. The Bruins went into the first intermission down 1-0 and, all things considered, it could have been worse.
There were a couple of instances in the second period when it appeared the game was going to get away from the Bruins. They were forced to kill back-to-back penalties by Charlie McAvoy (the first one was a phantom call), which they did. And then, on one extended fourth line shift, the Sabres had a wide open net with Kinkaid and two other defenders n the seats of their pants but they just couldn’t control the bouncing puck.
And, wouldn’t you know it, after the Sabres let the Bruins hang around, the visitors tied it on a late period power play after Ulya Lyubushkin was called for roughing on Marchand in front of the net.
On the advantage, Marchand’s one-timer went off Jake DeBrusk in front to Bergeron in the slot. Bergeron had to kick the puck onto his stick blade and then he lifted a backhander past Anderson with 1:09 left in the period. It was Bergeron’s sixth of the year.
