The Boston Bruins (6-7-0) found a way to win another hockey game on Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres (4-4-3), surviving for a 4-3 overtime win inside TD Garden.
‘Twas the night before Halloween, and Boston did not want to give their fans any tricks. Though they once again started slow, the Bruins looked to be on their way to giving their fans a treat after one period.
Unlike Tuesday, Boston didn’t spot the opposition a two-goal lead. They weathered the early storm, inspired by continued strong play from Joonas Korpisalo, the B’s surged late in the first period to a 2-0 lead.
From there, Boston was content to let Buffalo dominate the shots category, ultimately leading to Buffalo coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to force overtime.
There, Marat Khusnutdinov gave everyone the best treat of all, an overtime game-winning goal.
The biggest issue from it all for Boston came in the second period, when Elias Lindholm left the game with an injury and did not return.
Just like Tuesday, Boston got off to the aforementioned slow start.
Buffalo posted the first eight shots of the game, but could not find a way to beat Korpisalo. The Finnish netminder came in hot, blanking the Islanders for the final 54 minutes of Tuesday’s game, stopping 31 straight pieces of rubber.
Safe to say, he picked up where he left off.
After Boston got into it, Morgan Geekie follows Korpisalo’s footsteps in staying red-hot. The forward scored a powerplay goal, with an absolute snipe.
It’s the sixth-straight game with a goal for Geekie, joining Cam Neely, Phil Esposito, Barry Pederson, and Johnny Bucyk as the only Bruins to ever do so in franchise history, per the Bruins and NHL Stats.
Exactly two minutes later, the other red-hot Bruin goalscorer doubled Boston’s lead.
It’s a beautiful play all around. Pastrnak blocks a shot, steals the puck, and carries all the way for a two-on-one. His flick of the wrist for a five-hole goal continues to be a thing of total beauty, fooling goalies around the league.
Despite getting outshot 13-5 in the opening frame, Boston walked away up 2-0.
The second period was a deliberately slowed-down pace from Boston. They tried to contain the neutral zone, while exerting certain measures of control.
Midway through the period, Elias Lindholm suffered his knee injury as Jordan Greenway collided with him at center ice.
The Bruins ruled out Lindholm with a lower-body injury. There was no update postgame.
There, things began to turn from the controlled, plodding pace into a more Buffalo-dominated frame.
Buffalo pounded Boston, looking for at least one goal. Boston took two straight penalties late in the second period, ultimately leading to Buffalo’s first goal of the contest.
Zach Benson fed Rasmus Dahlin on a platter, and the Swedish defenseman’s one-timer through a crowd gave Korpisalo absolutely no chance to deny it.
It ended a streak of 54-straight saves for Korpisalo, having blanked opponents for over 80 straight minutes.
The goal jolted Buffalo to life, as both teams got more and more physically involved.
All that led to Mark Kastelic scoring his third goal of the season, as he continues to shine early in the season.
The goal came with just 21 seconds to go, a massive insurance marker for Boston, born out of continued hard work from their bottom six.
After the goal and through the end of the period, both teams jawed hard at each other. Animosity built, and Pavel Zacha took a penalty at the horn, giving Buffalo a power play to start the third.
Boston had to get the early kill, and it’s exactly what they did. They didn’t give Buffalo an inch, ultimately getting the kill with ease.
Unfortunately for Boston, Buffalo continued pushing hard. It led to a Josh Doan batting in a rebound that he gloved to himself, after Korpisalo gave up too juicy a rebound on an Alex Tuch shot with exactly 13 minutes to go.
Mikey Eyssimont dropped the gloves with Peyton Krebs, continuing to fuel the fire of rivalry burning bright tonight.
Ultimately, Boston continued sitting back just too much on Thursday. It eventually bit them, as Alex Tuch tied the game with 5:35 to go on Buffalo’s 40th shot of the game.
The Bruins challenged for alleged goalie interference, and they had a case, as Doan forced Henri Jokiharju into Korpisalo, but the league disagreed.
Boston killed off the ensuing penalty, then had a late man advantage of their own, but ultimately Boston’s first overtime game of the year happened.
With 44 seconds of power play time, Boston surged to try and win it early, but couldn’t do it. Nikita Zadorov very nearly did so, but the puck was swept away by a Buffalo defender.
Eventually, Khusnutdinov magic happened.
It’s a perfect shot, and a perfect finish for the Bruins, who have now won three of four games.
Their next game comes Saturday afternoon at home against the Carolina Hurricanes.
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