Tim Thomas wins seventh-straight game
Boston Bruins netminder Tim Thomas won his seventh-straight game, a franchise record for wins to start a season, as the Bruins jumped out to an early lead and secured a 5-2 victory against the Buffalo
Sabres on Wednesday, 3 November.
How it happened
The Buffalo Sabres were without their starting goalie Ryan Miller who is out with an injury. The surprsie start went to rookie Jhonas Enroth, instead of regular backup Patrick Lalime, but Enroth was pulled
after the first period after giving up three goals on 12 shots.
Boston's first two goals were scored while they were shorthanded, the first coming from Brad Marchand and the second from Patrice Bergeron. Blake Wheeler got his first of the season with just over three
minutes to go in the first to put the Bruins in front 3-0 going into the intermission.
Lalime wasn't in net for very long before the Bruins solved him with Michael Ryder scoring his fourth of the season.
Thomas had his shutout streak stopped at 167 minutes and 12 seconds when Drew Stafford scored on the power play for Buffalo late in the second period.
Buffalo pulled one more back when Andrej Sekera got his first of the season before Milan Lucic put the game away for good, scoring his fifth of the season into an empty net.
What they're saying
Bruins head coach Claude Julien was full of praise for his team after the game when he said, "Everybody's playing pretty good. We don't have any passengers, everybody's working hard, and everybody's committed."
But Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara alluded to the fact that, despite their positive start, the Bruins still have areas where they could improve. "Right now we're feeling pretty good, but at the same time
we can get better," he said. "There's always room to improve. But overall, yeah, it's nice to be winning."
When asked about his team's slow start, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff claimed responsibility for himself.
"As far as the team goes, it's my responsibility to pick them up, it's on my shoulders, first and foremost," he said. "I've got to pick 'em up and put 'em back together, get them ready to play."
The Buffalo Sabres are off to a terrible start and are currently in last place in the entire league. They will be hoping to get Ryan Miller back soon as without him the outlook gets even worse. They host
the Montreal Canadiens on Friday, 5 November.
The Bruins continue to roll with Thomas in goal and are now 7-2-0. They'll have a huge test when they come up against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
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