Buffalo Sabres cling on for 7-6 victory over Boston Bruins
Tyler Ennis notched the game winner in the shootout and Drew Stafford scored his fourth career hat trick, as the Buffalo Sabres pulled out a 7-6 victory over the Boston Bruins at HSBC Arena on Saturday night.
Stafford netted three goals, including the equalising goal with 28 seconds left in regulation time, which forced the game into overtime. He also scored a hat trick in a 3-2 home victory over the Bruins on 15 December.
“You don’t want to fold up when you’re down. It’s not in your game plan,” said Stafford, who has four career hat tricks — two in eight games. He added, “We knew if we kept battling, we had a chance to take this game.”
The Sabres surrendered four goals on the first 11 shots, but the dramatic ending to the game overshadowed the Sabres’ mistakes. Jason Pominville had two goals and two assists while Thomas Vanek added a goal and an assist for Buffalo, who have posted back-to-back
wins. Goaltender Ryan Miller turned aside 34 of 40 shots, as Buffalo improved to 4-0 in shootouts this season. The Sabres won straight games for the first time since early December. Jason Pominville said, “There were a lot of sloppy plays, but we dug deep
and found a way at the end.”
Tyler Seguin and Zdeno Chara each added a goal and an assist for the Northeast Division-leading Bruins, who have lost two consecutive games since a three-game winning streak. For the first time in a game, four Boston defencemen scored the goals including
Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Steven Kampfer.
Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask surrendered three goals on 16 shots in the first period. He was replaced by Tim Thomas, who saved 16 of 19 shots over the final two periods and in overtime. Bruins lost for the fourth time (19-1-3) in a game in which it led this
season. Tim Thomas lamented, “With the leads we had, we should have won the game easily.”
The teams combined for four goals in the first five and a half minutes with Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Brad Marchand scoring for Bruins, while Pominville lit the lamp for Sabres. Tyler Ennis then gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead in the 14th minute. He got Thomas
to force the netminder to commit and then lifted the left-handed shot high into the cage. Chara scored a shorthanded goal just 30 seconds later and tied the game at 3-3.
Stafford then netted his first goal of the night in the final minute of the first period which cut the Bruins lead to 4-3. Stafford forced overtime by scoring in the closing seconds of the game. He digged the puck out of a scrum and lifted it over the Bruins
netminder. The Sabres squandered a 5-4 lead entering the third period, which meant they had to rally again. Tyler Seguin and Michael Ryder each netted goals in the extra session to set up the end.
Seguin netted the equaliser on a one-timer from the right circle and Steven Kampfer scored his second goal of the career.
“To come out in the third too passive, there are still areas we need to be better,” Vanek said. He added, “But at the same time, I think we showed some guts to come back and keep fighting.”
Nearly a minute into overtime, Stafford was tripped by Thomas when he cut through the right circle to the net. Miller stopped five shots in overtime, while the Sabres were not credited with a shot.
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