Brad Boyes gives Buffalo Sabres a big win over Boston Bruins with Overtime goal – NHL Updates
Buffalo jumped back into the playoff’s run when Brad Boyes scored that game winning goal in overtime on Thursday night at the sold out TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, knocking down Bruins by 4-3. Since Terry Pegula has taken over Sabres, it has showed
immediate improvement, just as he had hoped.
This shows that good intentions can take you a long way, Buffalo is playing hard and has won six of nine games now.
Gaining those precious two points every time resulting in nearing its playoff berth, currently standing tied at seventh place with the New York Rangers with 74 points.
Buffalo was down 2-0 at the 11:26 mark in the second period, when Nathan Horton scored the first period’s only goal and Mark Recchi increased the lead midway through the second 20 minutes but was quickly replied by Tyler Ennis, scoring and assisting Thomas
Vanek, nearly seven minutes later to tie up the match during a late power-play opportunity.
Boston was a big challenge for them as it is number three in the Eastern Conference, recently dethroned from second place by the blazing Washington Capitals with 85 points.
"Physically, we know they are good", Nathan Gerbe said after assisting the winning goal. "They are a top team and they have a lot of good players so we had to play them tough".
It was all tied up entering the final period.
Gregory Campbell shot the tie breaker, redirecting a 50-foot shot by captain, Zdeno Chara, after hitting two Buffalo defensemen, 2:18 in on Ryan Miller who made 26 saves, little compared to Tim Thomas’s 41.
Vanek, who scored the earlier tying goal, gave Tim Connolly a chance this time as they had a two-man advantage, scrambling on the ice in front of two Boston defensemen and Thomas, Connolly was able to slightly pass it through and into the net.
With a little less than 15 minutes left, the match stood tied with both teams struggling to penetrate each other’s defence, it remained 3-3 till the end, forcing overtime.
Chara was playing his usual self, flying through the ice while checking players, even though freshly let off the hook by the NHL for injuring Max Pacioretty of Montreal, bashing him into the glass in Bruins’ previous match which resulted in Max having a
severe concussion and neck fracture.
"Obviously, his state of mind is not at best, which is normal", Bruins’ coach, Claude Julien, while commenting on Zdeno Chara. "You understand what's going on. It's not easy but, like I said, I thought he handled himself well tonight".
With 1:56 to go in the five-minute overtime, an open Boyes was passed the puck from under Thomas by Gerbe and he tapped it in to win the game.
After the miraculous win, he expressed his excitement about getting OT goals in this time of season, adding that getting points is top priority right now no matter who we play.
Buffalo will end its seven-game road trip in a match with Toronto on Saturday, who they face later on in the month as well.
Boston, on the other hand, will start its four-game road trip against a number of teams which it considers easy, facing Islanders on Friday, but Sabres was supposed to be an easy team too.
If Boston wants to regain its position over Washington, it’ll just have to expect the unexpected until the end of the regulation season.
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