Boston, Mass. (WGR 550/WBEN) - The Sabres were no match for the Bruins on Thursday night, as the Buffalo was boat raced to the tune of a 7-1 final at TD Garden in Boston.
The teams traded chances in the first period, but no goals were to be had. Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 11 saves, while Boston's Jeremy Swayman stopped all nine of his shots faced.
The Bruins opened the scoring at the 12:01 mark of the middle stanza, but it wasn't before Luukkonen made some unreal saves to keep it a scoreless contest.
As mentioned, Boston broke the ice and did so on a power play. Newly-acquired defenseman Dmitry Orlov, previously of the Washington Capitals, ripped home a one-timer on the man advantage to make it 1-0, Bruins.
Just 1:26 later, the score became 2-0 when center Jakob Lauko cashed in on a rebound opportunity out in front of Luukkonen.
This was just the beginning of the end for the blue and gold, as the Bruins showed why they're the top team in the league by a wide margin in the third period of play.
Boston went on to add five more goals in the final 20 minutes, and did so without winger Brad Marchand, who left after the second period with a lower-body injury.
Pavel Zacha, David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, Connor Clifton and Lauko juiced the Bruins' goal total to seven, which helped the Bruins to, already, their 48th win of the season.
Sandwiched in-between Pastrnak and Bergeron's tallies was a goal from Sabres forward Casey Mittelstadt. His 10th goal of the season broke up Swayman's shutout bid with 4:20 to play.
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GAME RECAP
Scoring Summary:
First Period:
BUF: NONE
BOS: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
BOS: 12:01 - Dmitry Orlov (6) PPG (Hampus Lindholm, David Pastrnak); 13:27 - Jakub Lauko (2) (Brandon Carlo, Dmitry Orlov)
Third Period:
BUF: 15:40 - Casey Mittelstadt (10) (JJ Peterka, Peyton Krebs)
BOS: 8:35 - Pavel Zacha (16) (David Krejci, David Pastrnak); 14:44 - David Pastrnak (43) ENG (David Krejci, Pavel Zacha); 16:39 - Patrice Bergeron (22) SHG/ENG (Dmitry Orlov, Brandon Carlo); 17:03 - Connor Clifton (5) SHG (Garnet Hathaway, Charlie Coyle); 19:08 - Jakub Lauko (3) (Charlie Coyle, Matt Grzelcyk)
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Penalty Summary:
First Period:
BUF: NONE
BOS: 18:54 - Connor Clifton (Interference - 2 min.)
Second Period:
BUF: 5:31 - Kyle Okposo (Roughing - 2 min.); 9:59 - Peyton Krebs (High sticking - 2 min.); 10:35 - Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Tripping - 2 min.)
BOS: 9:59 - Brad Marchand (High sticking - 2 min.)
Third Period:
BUF: 10:50 - Zemgus Girgensons (Holding - 2 min.)
BOS: 4:32 - Brandon Carlo (Cross-checking - 2 min.); 16:09 - Tomas Nosek (Hooking - 2 min.)
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Jeremy Swayman - BOS
2.) David Pastrnak - BOS
3.) Dmitry Orlov - BOS
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What's next:
The blue and gold return home to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 12:30 p.m. EST with pregame coverage on WGR starting at 11:30 a.m. EST with Brian Koziol.
