What we learned in Bruins' 4-1 win over Sabres

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Here’s what we learned in the Bruins' 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night at the First Niagara Center:

1) Perhaps the Bruins need to go into the third period tied or trailing if they want to have success.

After blowing back-to-back games where they held one-goal leads in the third period, the Bruins went into the third tied at 1 and found a way to rally for three unanswered goals while playing aggressive rather than protective hockey. The Bruins need to get back to feeling like a third-period lead means the game is as good as over and that they're constantly notrallying from behind. Of course, playing an easier mark such as the Sabres had something to do with it. Boston’s only wins in the five-game road trip were against beatable teams in New Jersey and Buffalo.

2) Ryan Spooner is stepping up in place of the injured David Krejci and giving the Bruins exactly what they need to keep things afloat.

While the Bruins offense is struggling to produce goals without the playmaking center, it’s certainly not the fault of the speedy, skilled Spooner. He finished with a goal and three points against the Sabres and played a primary role in all three scoring plays. It was Spooner’s spinning shot in the third period from the side boards that caught Robin Lehner by surprise through a Matt Beleskey screen and gave the Bruins enough insurance offense that they wouldn’t look back. Spooner has two goals and 11 points in the nine games since Krejci, the playmaking Czech pivot, sustained a upper body injury. Spooner will slot in as a huge asset as a third-line center once Krejci returns to good health.

3) Jonas Gustavsson continues to be exactly what the Bruins needed as a backup goaltender.

He had one moment of weakness in the first period when he opened up the five hole on David Legwand’s wraparound attempt after Colin Miller coughed it up behind the net. Still, the veteran goalie was perfect after that quick little transgression and made 24 saves in the second and third periods to allow the Bruins to get back into the game after the quick deficit. Gustavsson is 8-3-1 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average for the season. He's an impressive 6-1 on the road, including both of the wins on this five-game road trip. You can imagine what could have gone wrong if the Bruins had settled on an unproven rookie backup for Tuukka Rask rather than a proven veteran.

Plus
*Spooner finished with a goal and three points in 15:20 of ice time with three shots on net, a pair of hits and 4-for-9 face-off wins in a crucial department that the 23-year-old continues to try and improve on as he gains experience.

*Beleskey scored the game’s first goal when he crashed the net after a Spooner shot created a rebound on Lehner and the Bruins left winger was there to zing his eighth goal of the season past the Buffalo netminder. Beleskey finished with a goal and two points, a plus-3 rating and four registered hits in a thumping, productive performance.

*Gustavsson made 33 saves in the win and stopped all 24 shots in the final 40 minutes while first keeping the Bruins hanging around. He then protected a burgeoning lead as the B’s offense finally came alive. Gustavsson didn’t have to make money dazzling, acrobatic saves, and instead was just solid.

Minus
*Zero hits and a minus-3 rating in 23:32 of ice time for Zach Bogosian, who was turned around by some of the Bruins players in the defensive zone. He’s had an up and down NHL career that hasn’t always lived up to expectations for where he was drafted and he wasn’t very good on Friday night.

*Ryan O’Reilly was a very poor man’s Patrice Bergeron on Friday as he finished a minus-3 rating as well and won 15-of-31 face-offs in 21:57 of ice time, but didn’t really do anything of significance in losing the third period to the Bruins.

*Colin Miller had a horrendous turnover behind the Boston net to David Legwand that led to Buffalo’s only goal and finished with a minus-1 rating with just one shot on net in 12:32 of ice time. He looked like he was struggling right from the get-go, and never really fully rebounded through the rest of the game.

 

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