Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) - It was very apparent in the first period that both teams had been on the three-day NHL holiday break. The play was very sloppy, but it was also exciting because the sloppiness led to scoring chances.
Buffalo had the better of the play and had an open net early, but couldn't capitalize. Rasmus Asplund didn't bear down when he got the pass and Jaroslav Halak got across to rob him.
Marcus Johansson has absolutely no confidence as Jeff Skinner found him in front, but Halak made an easy save.
Johansson is starting to let his slump affect his whole game as he's making mental mistakes that aren't like him. He took a holding penalty with 29 seconds left in the first period and the game's first goal was in the net with 22 seconds left.
Patrice Bergeron has been red-hot, and Buffalo kept giving his line great opportunities.
Boston got their game fixed by the second period, while Buffalo was still very sloppy. That equaled a dominant Bruins period where Linus Ullmark stood on his head. Most of the play was in the Buffalo end, but it was a very bad turnover by Jimmy Vesey that led to Boston going up by two.
By the time the play was over, Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand had Rasmus Ristolainen spinning like a top. Bergeron's tap-in gave him three straight games of two goals. He almost had the hat-trick, but hit the post as he walked in.
Halak stood on his head in the first period, but only had to stop Johansson and Jeff Skinner in close to make his money in the second.
The Sabres had a pretty long streak for 11 games in November where they had the most goals in the National Hockey League. Recently, they got one in Philadelphia, scored three against Los Angeles and none versus Boston.
Buffalo seemed to get angry in the third period, which made them play better, but still it didn't help on the scoreboard. Sam Reinhart showed some fire in the crease, going after Connor Clifton, and Ristolainen bulled his way all the way into the net on a power play, leaving bodies in his wake.
Ralph Krueger confirmed that in his postgame comments saying after their poor showing in the second period, they were very angry in the room.
Buffalo is not a real tough team, and many of their forwards like to play on the perimeter and not pay the price where goals are scored. I listened to Phil Housley for two season beg his players to go to the net and now Krueger is doing the same thing almost on a nightly basis.
The anger got Buffalo a lot of zone time and a 10-5 shots advantage, along with a post from Rasmus Dahlin. But in the end, there were no goals.
Buffalo has lost to Boston twice and given up six goals. The line of Bergeron, Pastrnak and Marchand has all of them. If you want to get technical, the empty net goal was scored by a defenseman, but two of the three were on the ice and Marchand got an assist.
It's two things that gets the Sabres beaten by Boston, that line and the Sabres can't score on the Boston goalies. Halak had a 26-save shutout on Friday, and Tuukka Rask stood on his head and stole the game in Boston, stopping 36 of 38 shots.
Rask will be in goal on Sunday in Boston when the same two teams meet again.
