BSJ Game Report: Bruins 5, Sabres 1 - B's take care of business en route to 6th straight win

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 5-1 win over the Sabres in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

HEADLINES

It was far from a riveting evening of hockey for most of Thursday's matchup in Buffalo, but the Bruins did more than enough to extend its win streak to six games, landing punch after punch in the third period against the Sabres en route to a comfortable 5-1 victory at KeyBank Center.

Despite another frustrating evening on the power play (0-for-2 / 1-for-18 over its last six games) and what seemed like an endless parade to the sin bin for Bruce Cassidy's club, Boston never trailed in this one — with five different scorers lighting the lamp at even-strength action in Brad Marchand, Matt Grzelcyk, David Pastrnak, Nick Ritchie and David Krejci.

Down the other end of the ice, Jeremy Swayman continued his very impressive run in net, with the rookie stopping 29 of the 30 shots that came his way, including a couple of highlight-reel stops in the third when the game started to open up a bit.

The first two periods of play were likely far from enjoyable for even the most die-hard B's fan, with Boston failing to get into much of a rhythm due to getting whistled for six penalties in those 40 minutes. Still, despite Buffalo logging plenty of minutes on the man advantage, they couldn't get much of anything generated against Boston's PK and Swayman, with goals from Marchand and Grzelcyk keeping Boston ahead.

In the third period, Boston took care of business — with Pastrnak giving Boston some breathing room at 4:55 before the B's second and third lines cashed in off of goals from Ritchie and Krejci to close this one out.

With the win, Boston improves to 27-12-6 and remains just four points behind the Capitals for first place in the East Division.

B's avoid disaster with Charlie McAvoy: A win or loss was going to be irrelevant if good fortune wasn't on the Bruins' side in the first period, as the B's season flashed before its eyes after Charlie McAvoy needed help getting off the ice after taking a puck off his leg just minutes into regulation.

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After absorbing the blast from Mattias Samuelsson, McAvoy immediately crumpled to the KeyBank Center sheet in pain, not putting any pressure on his leg as he made his way down the tunnel. Obviously, worst-case scenarios immediately come to mind with sequences like this, in which blasts from the blue line shatter bones and topple skaters, but it appears as though Boston dodged a major bullet — as McAvoy returned to the ice later in the first period and ultimately ended up logging 20:50 of ice time in the win.

While Boston's D corps — still without both Kevan Miller (who could return Friday) and Brandon Carlo — has managed to stay afloat this season despite a slew of injuries, methinks I don't have to pen a lengthy column describing just how devastating a major injury for McAvoy would have been to this Bruins club. Crisis avoided.

FIVE UP

Brad Marchand: We might have to start etching Marchand's name into this section of our report with permanent ink, because the B's top left winger continues to rack up points night in and night out. With his first-period tally, Marchand is now up to an absurd 12 goals so far in the month of April — putting him in some pretty elite company when it comes to scoring output.

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Jeremy Swayman: Swayman continues to impress in net, with his totals now up to an absurd .943 save percentage through six games. With Tuukka Rask settling in and Swayman not letting up when it comes to his stout play in between the pipes, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Boston is continuing to rack up points with ease these days.

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David Pastrnak: For the first time in a long time, Pastrnak looked like the top-flight sniper that took home the Rocket Richard Trophy last season — with the winger both confident and assertive when handling the puck on Thursday night. Boston is hoping that his even-strength tally in the third period will get Pastrnak rolling on one of his patented hot streaks.

Penalty kill: As we noted on Tuesday, perhaps this is more of a testament to the Bruins' undisciplined play (or just a really, really bad Sabres power play), but Boston's PK was once again stout on Thursday, going a perfect 5-for-5 on the night.

Coyle Line: At long last, the Bruins' new-look third line finally broke through — with Ritchie scoring his first goal since March 30 to continue Boston's third-period rout. With the secondary assist, Charlie Coyle also secured the 300th point of his NHL career as well.

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ONE DOWN

Discipline: Another repeat submission from Tuesday's win, Boston continues to make things hard on itself when it comes to staying out of the box — with Thursday standing as the fourth straight game in which Boston's PK has hit the ice at least five times. Again, you can get away with that against a team like Buffalo, but not against the other big dogs in the East.

PLAY OF THE GAME

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PARTING THOUGHTS

A familiar development these days.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

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LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will be right back at it on Friday night, with Boston closing out its three-game set at KeyBank Center with a rematch against Buffalo. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Tuukka Rask is expected to get the start in net for Boston.