Bruins survive in shootout, beat Sabres 3-2

The debuts of the three new Bruins could have gone more smoothly Tuesday night, but in the end, Taylor Hall, Mike Reilly and Curtis Lazar were still able to hear the strains of “Dirty Water” after their first game in Black and Gold.

The Bruins coughed up a one-goal third-period lead to the Buffalo Sabres, but Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk scored in the shootout while Jeremy Swayman stopped Victor Olofsson and Tage Thompson to capture a 3-2 win and secure two points.

The B’s started the game in nearly the same discombobulated fashion in which they played Sunday’s 8-1 drubbing at the hands of Capitals. The B’s kept going backward on the first couple of shifts until they found themselves down 1-0 just 1:52 into the game, with a couple of former Bruins picking up points.

Jarred Tinordi, in the lineup while Jakub Zboril got his first scratch of the year, lost a puck along the left boards and it was rimmed all the way over to the right side. Dylan Cozens’ pass was deflected out high to Colin Miller, who walked into a slapper and beat Swayman to the blocker side. Anders Bjork, dealt to the Sabres on Sunday, picked up the secondary assist.

The B’s eventually got their footing and tied the game after Nick Ritchie got away with what easily could have been an interference penalty. Craig Smith had just won a board battle with Riley Sheahan and as the Sabre turned back toward the middle of the ice, Ritchie blasted him. Whether it was ruled incidental contact or just plain missed, play continued on as Sheahan headed to the bench and down the tunnel clutching his left shoulder (he would return in the second period.) Eventually, Jeremy Lauzon got a shot through that produced a big rebound for David Krejci, who lifted a backhander over Linus Ullmark to knot it at 13:20.

Soon, the B’s started a parade to the penalty box. First, Ritchie was sent off for a clear boarding on Rasmus Dahlin. Seconds after that was killed off, DeBrusk was called for hooking and finally newcomer Lazar was called for high-sticking, giving the Sabres a 28-second 5-on-3.

The B’s, who despite the penalties held an 11-5 shot advantage in the first, survived it all.

Early in the second period, Matt Irwin drew the short straw to make Ritchie answer for his two hits. Ritchie quickly landed a couple of hard rights and Irwin held on for dear life.

The B’s took their first lead of the game on some nice end-to-end play by the white-hot Smith. First, he broke up a play in the defensive slot to start to the break-out up to Krejci, who moved it to Hall on the right wing. Hall tried a drop pass to Smith but fanned. No worries. Miller pushed it right to Smith, who buried a far-side shot at 5:29. That gave Smith 4-10-14 totals in 12 games.

Tempers continued to flare. Kevan Miller delivered a green-light hit on Rasmus Apslund along the boards that Thompson didn’t like. The gangly 6-foot-7 forward challenged Miller to a fight, catching a brutal roundhouse that knocked him down. He got up only to take another one that ended it.

Swayman was not busy in the second, but he did make a terrific glove save on Cozens and later had to get bailed out by Tinordi, who blocked a shot with an empty net behind him.

The B’s got their first power play when Irwin held DeBrusk at 16:29, but they could not get a shot on net. On the second unit, the lack of confidence of which Hall spoke about was evident as he could not do anything with some open space he had and was pick-pocketed of the puck.

The B’s outshot the Sabres 13-6 in the second but had to settle for the one-goal advantage going into the third.

They could not hold it. With 8:07 left in regulation, the new fourth line, which had some good energetic shifts earlier, got caught in their own end. Dahlin’s shot from the blue line went off Lazar’s stick, then Kevan Miller and skipped past Swayman to tie it up.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2OK5jHe