BOSTON — If it’s symmetry you want, the Bruins provided plenty in their 5-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden on Thursday.
The B’s did not, however, find any clarity with their playoff opponent after 81 regular season games.
With the B’s victory coupled with he Tampa Bay Lightning’s loss in Columbus, the B’s are now just one point behind the Bolts. The B’s finish the season on Friday in Toronto and, if the B’s win and Tampa loses at the Islanders, the B’s will play the Maple Leafs in the first round. If they can’t catch Tampa, the B’s will play the Carolina Hurricanes. How many regulars will be in the respective lineups is anyone’s guess.
At the Garden on Thursday, meanwhile, the B’s took care of business after a slow start, in perfect fashion. Patrice Bergeron notched a hat trick, the last goal of which gave the captain his 400th career goal. It didn’t end there. The B’s snapped their long power-play drought with David Pastrnak’s 40th goal of the season, then added a second PP goal on Taylor Hall’s 20th.
And, oh, Linus Ullmark notched his first shutout of the season against his former team.
In their last home game of the regular season, the Bruins looked like they wanted to be anywhere but the Garden in the first period as they were outshot 12-6 by a Sabres team that is once again an also-ran but has been playing very well down the stretch.
One thing the B’s did accomplish in the first was they quickly got some power-play practice that they desperately need. But they could not solve whatever is blocking them mentally and got only one decent chance on goalie Dustin Tokarski.
After the power-play, the B’s spent quite a while in their own zone, but Linus Ullmark kept the Sabres off the board in the first 20.
For a while, it appeared as though the B’s had little interest in winning the game and keeping their chances of playing the Leafs alive. They took three straight penalties, all of the somewhat obvious variety.
But they killed them all off and started to go to work in the offensive zone. The first line buzzed the Sabres’ end for several golden chances. After Tokarski made a couple of excellent saves, Patrice Bergeron finally cleaned it up for his 23rd of the season at 6:16.
The captain then popped home his second later in the period, this time off a feed from Jake DeBrusk from behind the net at 12:29. The Sabres challenged for an offside, but it was ruled onside and not only did the goal stay on the board, but the B’s got their third power-play of the game off the unsuccessful challenge.
And this time, they had two golden chances to finally break the seal. First Pastrnak’s sizzling one-timer was stopped by Tokarski on a great stop and then, with Tokarski down and out, Pastrnak hit the crossbar. The cold streak stretched to 0-for-39.
But the B’s would finally – finally! – crack the iceberg on an early third period power-play. And they made it look easy. Pastrnak took a feed from Hall as he buzzed through the slot and he slipped a backhander through Tokarski’s pads.
Sabres’ coach Don Granato challenged the play again for offside as Brad Marchand bobble the puck at the blue line. But it was ruled Marchand did keep it in and that goal stood, too.
That cost the Sabres a double minor and, five seconds into the second one, Hall dug a loose puck out of Tokarski’s pads to score to hit the 20-goal mark at 4:16.
Bergeron then made it rain hats with 2:13 left in the game.
