BSJ Game Report: Bruins 4, Sabres 1 - B's take care of business against lowly Sabres

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Sabres in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

HEADLINES

B's handle business against Buffalo

At long last, the Bruins finally secured a matchup against the cellar-dwelling Sabres — serving as a much-needed reprieve to a Boston club in desperate need of piling on points in the East Division.

And the Sabres, sure enough, were as advertised on Thursday night — as Boston built an early lead and added to it for most of the night in what was an encouraging 4-1 victory at KeyBank Arena.

Four different Bruins lit the lamp for Boston, with Boston's second and fourth lines both breaking through at even-strength action with tallies from Craig Smith and Greg McKegg. Despite some shorthanded bids down the other end of the ice, Boston did bury a pair of goals on the man advantage from Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak to close out the scoring. With the victory, Boston has posted its first consecutive wins since Feb. 1-12.

All things considered, the first 25 minutes or so was generally underwhelming for Boston — even if McKegg opened the scoring just 2:56 into regulation with the tip off of a Matt Grzelcyk shot from the blue line. However, Buffalo answered shortly into the second on a Bruins power play, with Kyle Okposo snapping what looked like a harmless shot past Jaroslav Halak for a shorthanded strike.

Despite trading far too many chances with a reeling Buffalo squad that entered the contest on a 12-game losing streak, Boston took things over later in the second, with DeBrusk opening the floodgates by batting home a puck out of the air on the man advantage at 9:15 in the period. With 1:24 to go in the second, Smith gave Boston some breathing room by snapping home a much-needed 5v5 strike past Buffalo netminder Carter Hutton.

Pastrnak added the coup de grâce in the third period, uncorking a howitzer that rocketed in and out of Sabres' twine during a 5-on-3 sequence at 4:44 in the frame. Halak finished with 23 saves on 24 Sabres shots.

Frederic goes down with an injury: Add another name to Boston's growing list of wounded skaters, as Trent Frederic was limited to just 5:28 of ice time in the win due to a lower-body injury. Postgame, Cassidy noted that Frederic was injured blocking a shot, but that X-rays were negative. At this point, the young forward is just listed as day-to-day with his ailment.

FOUR UP

David Krejci: It's been far from a perfect season for Krejci, but the B's veteran center put together one of his better outings of the season on Thursday, recording three assists in the victory. His first helper on DeBrusk's power-play strike netted Krejci his 700th career point, with the pivot becoming just the eighth skater to reach that scoring milestone in a Bruins sweater.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1372717858753556481

Craig Smith: After scoring just one goal in his last 18 games, Smith got off the schneid by peppering the Sabres' net early and often in this one, landing three shots on goal (one of which sailed into the net) while also ringing three shots off of the post and crossbar. Yes, it is the Sabres (something we all need to tell ourselves after this one), but hopefully generating a ton of Grade-A looks — and getting rewarded for one — helps Smith build some momentum.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1372710329860374528

Jake DeBrusk: Much like Smith and Krejci, good on DeBrusk for landing some easy body shots against the Sabres and getting back in the goal column. Perhaps most encouraging was DeBrusk's placement on his third goal of the season — right at Buffalo's doorstep. More of that from DeBrusk should open the door for more Grade-A looks for DeBrusk as Boston looks to get him going.

Greg McKegg and B's fourth line: Inserted into the lineup as a late addition after Sean Kuraly was placed on the COVID-19 Protocol list, McKegg made an immediate impact with his tipped-home goal in the opening minutes of play. Even without Frederic for extended stretches, that revamped fourth line with McKegg and Karson Kuhlman was very solid — limiting the Sabres to just three shots attempts in their ice time, despite having just 25.00% of their faceoffs set in the offensive zone.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1372689634132688896

ONE DOWN

Power play: Even with those two tallies from Pastrnak and DeBrusk, there were still way too many chances going down the other end of the ice during Boston's power-play reps — headlined by Okposo's goal, which now stands as the fourth shorthanded tally that Boston has coughed up this season.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1372702437589532676

PLAY OF THE GAME

Some solid hand-eye coordination from DeBrusk here. What's not solid? That netfront protection on the Sabres' PK.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1372706303659900931

PARTING THOUGHTS

Did anyone else get these flashbacks?

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1372703718521585664

QUOTE OF THE DAY

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1372726850707992577

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will close out their four-game road trip on Saturday with a matinee matchup against the Sabres. Puck drop is set for 1 p.m.