The good news is that the Bruins still don’t have a home regulation loss as the calendar year comes to an end. The bad news is that they blew what should have been two points and ended up with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Sabres on Saturday.
With Buffalo leading 2-1 after two periods, Brad Marchand led a Boston comeback that seemed to set up a victory. He fed Patrice Bergeron for a power-play goal to tie the game early in the third, then finished off a breakaway to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead with 7:35 to go.
The Bruins then had a golden opportunity to extend the lead with a four-minute power play, including two full minutes of a 5-on-3 in the middle, but couldn’t score. They would regret not capitalizing, as Dylan Cozens scored a minute after the game returned to even strength, teeing up a slapper that somehow squeaked through Jeremy Swayman.
Pastrnak had a great chance to score in overtime as a juicy rebound popped out right to him, but he couldn’t settle the puck and watched it bounce away harmlessly. A couple minutes later, Alex Tuch won it for the Sabres, taking advantage of a rare Bergeron turnover.
“Should’ve called a timeout when the 5-on-3 happened, because we haven’t had one in a while,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “We were very disorganized. Our puck movement and our spacing was not the way we would like it to be, and I have to take responsibility for not calling timeout there and then to end the game.”
The Bruins are now 18-0-3 at TD Garden. Next up is a move to a temporary home, as they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park on Monday.
“Disappointing finish. We had that game, had our hands all around it,” Marchand said. “Kind of squandered a couple PPs late. That’s kind of on us. We should’ve been much better in that situation. But we’re not gonna dwell on it. We got a point and we got a great opportunity ahead of us. We’re gonna have a lot of fun [with the Winter Classic].”
The Bruins opened Saturday’s scoring with 6:51 left in the first on a great tic-tac-toe setup involving all five guys on the ice. Pavel Zacha started a regroup in the neutral zone with a pass over to Hampus Lindholm, who then moved it across the ice to Brandon Carlo. Carlo one-touched back to Zacha, who then dropped a pass to David Krejci. Krejci then zipped a pass over to Pastrnak, who one-timed it past Luukkonen for his 25th goal of the season.
The Bruins nearly made it 2-0 a couple minutes later, but Luukkonen robbed Marchand right in front. Instead, the Sabres would tie the game going into the intermission, with their leading scorer, Tage Thompson, answering Pastrnak’s tally. After a Connor Clifton turnover handed possession back to Buffalo, Thompson drove to the net and used his long reach to tuck the puck past a sprawling Jeremy Swayman.
In what would be a theme throughout the day, another near-Bruins goal was almost immediately answered by an actual Sabres goal early in the second. Krejci sprung Zacha on a breakaway and Zacha actually beat Luukkonen five-hole, but the puck nicked off his skate and went just wide.
Thirty seconds later, Buffalo took advantage of another misplay from a Bruins defenseman. Ilya Lyubushkin flipped a pass into the neutral zone that Lindholm couldn’t knock down, allowing Tuch to poke it past him and race in for a breakaway goal, his first of two on the day.
The Bruins would push for the tying goal the remainder of the second period, but missed the net on a few of their best chances, with A.J. Greer, Matt Grzelcyk and Pastrnak all guilty. Jake DeBrusk and Charlie McAvoy also had good looks, but couldn’t settle incoming passes.
That theme of being just a little bit off would resurface late in the third period and in overtime, and ultimately cost the Bruins an additional point.
Montgomery said his team will turn the page quickly and get ready for Monday.
“We’ll put this away pretty quick and start focusing on the great event that’s coming, the Winter Classic,” Montgomery said. “It’s like the Super Bowl of hockey in the regular season. It’s a great time, it’s a great event, it’s a special event, and it’s gonna be at Fenway. So I think our minds are gonna go there pretty quick and get excited about the Winter Classic.”