Bruins 4, Sabres 1.
For the second time in three games the Sabres are shown up at the hands of a no name goaltender. But not without the help of Toni Lydman and co…..On Thursday it was the Kings Johnathan Quick leading the way an 8-2 drubbing of the Sabres. Tonight, it was recent addition Alex Auld stopping fourty four shots in helping the Bruins to a 4-1 win over the Sabres.
The Sabres helped set the tone for this one thanks to two horrible first period giveaways in the defensive zone by Lydman that directly led to Bruin goals, and despite outshooting Boston 12-6 the Sabres found themselves at the short end of a 3-1 score. Jaro Spacek grabbed the lone Sabre goal on the power play and Savard, Axelsson, and Schaefer had the Boston tallies for the period.
The Sabre onslaught of Auld continued, and he stood tall as he stopped all twenty second period shots to maintain the two goal edge heading into the third. Glen Metropolit would get the final marker at 10:08 of the third and the Bruins would close out the win despite being outshot 45-21 for the game.
The mood in the locker room afterward was somewhat upbeat despite the loss, players found themselves to be a bit surprised at the effort they were able to put out despite the long journey back from San Jose. Jason Pominvillle quipped that ” The energy level was there…..I thought overall we skated well…..but again we didn’t score the first goal”
Coach Ruff was upset more with the mental mistakes than the fact that they lost despite outshooting the Bruins by more than two to one:”The last thing we talked about this morning was to we were going to have to be smart and not make mistakes and not give the puck away”.
When asked about the multitude of shots he replied simply that “We still gotta finish”.
After the fourth goal, Ryan Miller was attended to by the trainer, he was unavailable for comment after the game but Ruff said that he tweaked his ankle and that he would be fine.With the loss the Sabres fall to 13-14-1 on the season.
Useless notes:
Tonight’s game was not a sellout, official count was about 390 short of a full house.
With the 4-1 win the Bruins move back ahead of the Sabres in the all time goal count in the series. Boston has 773 and Buffalo 771.
