(WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres hadn’t won a road game in eight tries, going 0-7-1 in that span. However, they finally got it done in Boston on Monday, beating the Bruins, 3-2, in overtime.
At the 2:51 mark of overtime, Marat Khusnutdinov took a tripping penalty, giving Buffalo a 4-on-3 power play chance.
Before that, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Joonas Korpisalo traded enormous overtime saves.
Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei went in alone on Luukkonen, who made a huge save. Then former Sabres defenseman Nikita Zadorov flew right past Peyton Krebs for a breakaway, which Luukkonen stood tall on.
At the other end, Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin got too cute on a 2-on-1 with Alex Tuch, trying one final pass, but Dahlin kept going for a wrap-around that Korpisalo stopped. Tuch then had the open net and hit the post.
After Zadorov’s chance, Krebs was robbed by Korpisalo as he was in alone.
On the 4-on-3 power play, Korpisalo made a big save on Dahlin’s one-timer from the right circle, as well as Tage Thompson from the slot.
Buffalo then broke through with just two seconds left in the power play and 10.7 seconds left in overtime when Tuch tipped in Owen Power’s shot for his 26th goal of the season.
Tuch now has 10 goals in his last 14 games.
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Power has had two solid defensive games in-a-row for Buffalo, but in Boston, he also added a goal and two assists.
His goal in the second period tied the game at 2-2, and was his first goal in 21 games, dating back to Jan. 17. Power only had one point in his last nine games.
The goal was a very nice setup from Ryan McLeod, who went cross-ice to find Power, who beat Korpisalo with a very nice shot, but a shot the goalie would want back.
McLeod has points in four-straight games, and has a goal and five assists for six points in six games.
Buffalo got off to a very good start in this game. They were playing fast, winning battles, and got an early power play on a bad tripping call to Bruins forward Mark Kastelic.
It was a break Buffalo needed, as Krebs made a play on the power play and then slid to an open spot in front. Jack Quinn got a pass from Power in the last circle, and immediately found the wide-open Krebs in front, who wired home his sixth of the season.
Buffalo had to fill in with McLeod and Krebs on the power play, because they were missing three key offensive players in Josh Norris, JJ Peterka and Jiri Kulich to injury.
After taking the 1-0 lead, Buffalo took two dumb penalties to give Boston a two-man advantage for 51 seconds. Sam Lafferty got a roughing penalty for knocking the helmet off a Bruins player in a scrum, and then Connor Clifton made a hit right in the numbers, which he has to avoid.
You can't take those penalties, but the Sabres continually do.
Tuch, Bo Byram, Mattias Samuelsson and Power all did a terrific job to kill that off, but it really got the Bruins going.
Overall, the Sabres killed plays all night, and only allowed 19 shots in 64:49 of hockey.
Their problem was their situational awareness was horrendous.
On Boston's second goal in the first period, Samuelsson had no idea that Morgan Geekie had gotten behind him, and he scored off a breakaway, taking a perfect stretch pass from Parker Wotherspoon.
Later, David Pastrnak got behind the defense and in on Luukkonen, who made a huge save. Geekie got behind them again, but the Bruins missed that stretch pass.
When the Sabres got in their lull, they had no pressure at all on Korpisalo.
But near the end of the second period, they started winning offensive zone battles again, and in the 4-on-3 power play in overtime, they never stopped working and won almost every battle.
I have to say, that’s three out of their last four games where Buffalo deserved to win, and worked hard to do it.
Coming out of the break, Ruff broke the final 28 games of the season into five, five-game segments. His goal for the team was to get seven points in five games, which is a record of 3-1-1. They won their first two games, but finished the first segment 2-2-1, which is five points. Their second segment was 1-4-0, which is two points.
They’re currently 2-0-0 in the third segment.
The Sabres will head to Salt Lake City on Tuesday to play the Utah Hockey Club for the second time this season, and first time ever on the road.