Buffalo Sabres Look To Build Off Win
The Buffalo Sabres look to build off Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the struggling Montreal Canadiens as they face the Boston Bruins in the second game of the back-to-back set, and first game of a home-and-home, on Thursday evening.
First, a quick recap of Wednesday’s win:
Marcus Foligno opened the scoring for Buffalo just 5:10 into the first period, with Zemgus Girgensons and Cody Franson notching the helpers.
It’d stay 1-0 Buffalo for the remainder of the first, until Dale Weise tied things up early in the second on the power-play.
The Habs then took the lead on Alex Galchenyuk‘s 12th of the season midway through the period.
The Sabres, however, weren’t going to lie down.
The comeback began as Jamie McGinn notched his 11th of the year on the power-play at 7:34 of the third to tie it at two.
Johan Larsson scored his second of the season just about four minutes later to give Buffalo the lead.
Brian Gionta added an empty-netter with 13 seconds to go.
Overall, Buffalo was outshot 35-32 and went 1/3 on the power-play. Robin Lehner had 33 saves, while Mike Condon had 28 saves for the Habs.
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The Buffalo Sabres now return right to action less than 24 hours later, hosting the Boston Bruins for a 7 p.m. puck drop at First Niagara Center.
Tonight’s game is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Bruins this season.
Buffalo took the first meeting by a score of 6-3, thanks in large part to Jack Eichel‘s big performance in his hometown. The Bruins then won the second meeting 4-1 back in January.
Now, the teams face each other twice in a span of just a few short days.
While the Sabres are coming off Wednesday’s win, the Bruins have lost two straight dating back to January 26. They most recently fell to Toronto, 4-3, in overtime on Tuesday.
Players to watch for Boston include Patrice Bergeron, Loui Eriksson and David Krejci.
Bergeron leads the Bruins with 19 goals and 44 points in 50 games. Eriksson has 39 points and is a plus-11 on the season. Krejci’s got 38 points in just 40 games this season, including three game-winners.
In addition, the three combined have a total of 19 power-play goals, so they’ll definitely be a force to be reckoned with tonight.
As always, top performers like Ryan O’Reilly, Jack Eichel and Rasmus Ristolainen will be looked upon by the Buffalo Sabres to perform big tonight.
The Buffalo Sabres enter tonight’s game on a two-game winning streak, dating back to prior to the NHL All-Star Break.
Can they build off the strong effort from Wednesday’s win to capture another two points against Boston?
Next: Top Five Moments of the Sabres' Season
Stay tuned tonight as the Sabres host the Bruins in the first of the home-and-home set. They’ll then close out the season series with Boston on Saturday.