BSJ Game Report: Bruins 2, Sabres 0 - Rask's shutout lifts B's to 5th straight win

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 2-0 victory over the Sabres in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

HEADLINES

With seven of their next nine games set against the cellar-dwelling Sabres and Devils — and with multiple games in hand against the three teams ahead of them in the East Division standings — the Bruins very well could be in the driver's seat when it comes to determining their fate ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

And while Buffalo (5-3-2 in their previous 10 games) has emerged from doldrums that they found themselves in earlier this season, this is still a rebuilding roster that a suddenly red-hot B's roster should run circles around over the next week. Even though the final score of Tuesday's meeting between both clubs (a 2-0 Bruins victory) may not have been as lopsided as one might expect, Boston still took care of business against a lesser foe — with Tuukka Rask snuffing out multiple late-game pushes by Buffalo en route to a 32-save shutout.

Brad Marchand and Connor Clifton both scored for the Bruins — who have now won five games in a row since the trade deadline. Following the Rangers' regulation loss to the Islanders on Tuesday, the Bruins now hold a six-point lead over the Blueshirts in the standings for the fourth and final playoff spot, in the East with Boston also with two games in hand against New York.

Boston didn't necessarily make things easy on themselves despite building a 2-0 lead through the first 24 minutes of play — especially in a third period where the B's were whistled for four penalties. Spending so much time in the sin bin isn't a winning formula against a club like the Capitals. But against Buffalo, Boston was able to escape unscathed, with Rask slamming the door shut with 17 stops in the final 20 minutes of action.

FOUR UP

Brad Marchand: Another game, another fantastic showing from Marchand and the B's top line. With his backhand tally (24th on the year) at 8:06 in the first period, Marchand has now racked up 19 points in his last 11 games. In total, during the 10:28 of 5v5 ice time that the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line logged on Tuesday, Boston held a 5-0 edge in high-danger scoring chances. Dominant stuff — which is, fair or not, expected at this point for Marchand.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1384641389972000780

Tuukka Rask: Yeah, yeah — it's the Sabres. But Rask has been money since returning from injury, winning his last three games and posting a .954 save percentage (84 saves on 88 shots) along the way. Rask's complete robbery of Dylan Cozens in the first period might have been the highlight of the night, but the B's top goalie withstood multiple Grade-A chances, going a perfect 11-for-11 in saves on high-danger looks from Buffalo.

Penalty kill: Granted, the Bruins PK was very, very busy because of some iffy calls and undisciplined plays — but the NHL's top-ranked kill didn't budge at all on Tuesday, negating all six of Boston's penalties.

Connor Clifton: Clifton tallied his first regular-season goal since Nov. 19, 2019 — with the defenseman's shot from the blue line slipping past Sabres goalie Dustin Tokarski before the puck was eventually knocked in by Buffalo's netminder at 3:03 in the second period. Perhaps the best development for Clifton (21:09 ice time) was that he wasn't seriously injured after slamming face-first into the boards during the third period. He was back out and skating on the following shift. Good news all around.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1384652435562639362

TWO DOWN

Coyle Line: Jake DeBrusk did what he could to try to get that third line going by firing a team-high seven shots on goal in this one, but the results were still largely discouraging for a third line that has yet to mesh despite Boston's winning ways as of late. During the Ritchie-Coyle-DeBrusk line's 8:03 of 5v5 ice time, the Sabres held a 5-1 edge in scoring chances. Not good enough for a line that should be regularly capitalizing on lesser matchups.

Team discipline: As we said earlier, Boston can get away with a bevy of penalties against a team like Buffalo. But man, it's going to bite this team come the postseason if they can't stay out of the box.

"Some lack of discipline (penalties), you can address — but we've got a lot of high sticking recently," Bruce Cassidy said. "So I mean you're telling players to be in charge of the stick, but I don't think there's any player that goes out in the ice and purposely high sticks someone in the face. But (be) a little more aware of your surroundings I guess and manage it better. ... I think this year we're the highest penalized team in the league in terms of killing penalties and that's rare for us.

"We'll have our penalty minutes because some of them are majors, but it's just one of those years where we've got to get it addressed and maybe get some answers of what they're seeing versus how we're playing as well. But we do have to fix it. Can't do that. Some of your players get stale on the bench. It's taxing on the four to eight guys that kill, it's taxing on your goaltender and I think it just takes away from the rhythm of your game."

PLAY OF THE GAME

Potential save of the year candidate right here. Sheesh.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1384645401991688196

PARTING THOUGHTS

Ooooof.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1384674954457894913

QUOTE OF THE DAY

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1384677466976002049

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will continue their road trip on Thursday with another matchup against the Sabres. Boston's starting goalie is not set in stone quite yet, but given that Jaroslav Halak is still working his way back from COVID, Bruce Cassidy did note that Jeremy Swayman might be the current favorite to get the call in goal on Thursday.