B’s take care of business
Secondary scoring surfaces to help top Buffalo
Throughout the first half of this unique NHL season, the Bruins have watched their rivals in the East Division feast on the dysfunctional Buffalo Sabres while they could only wait their turn.
That turn came on Thursday, and though some of the B’s recent warts were still visible, they did not let the first of their eight cracks against the lowly Sabres slip through their fingers, pulling away from their hosts midway through the game for a 4-1 victory at KeyBank Center.
Aside from the valuable two points in the standings, the best sign was that the B’s got some much-needed secondary scoring. Craig Smith scored his first goal in 10 games, Jake DeBrusk got on the board again and David Krejci assisted on three of the four goals. The first helper was his 700th point of Krejci’s illustrious career.
“Bruins fans know (Krejci’s) importance come playoff time, he really brings it every year. Having that onetwo punch with (Patrice Bergeron),” said coach Bruce Cassidy. “As for him heating up, it’s been welldocumented, we need our centermen to drive the lines they’re on and he’s a big part of getting DeBrusk and Smitty going. You can put (Charlie) Coyle in that category, too. It was good to see Krech get going today. Some of it was power-play, but that’s OK. Those goals count, too, right? He was making some plays otherwise and Smitty looked real good today on that right side, getting lots of shots, hitting some bars (two). As a result, you get excited to play when you see the puck more. Good for them. I thought they played the right way and got rewarded. And congrats to Krech. Seven hundred, on to 800 now, so good for him.”
The only negative from the game was a lower body injury to Trent Frederic in the first period from a blocked shot. He did not play the rest of the way. Cassidy said an X-ray taken at the rink was negative and termed him as day-to-day.
While the Bruins were looking to win consecutive games for the first time since they did it on Feb. 10 and 12, the Sabres were hoping for a more foundational shift.
Buffalo had lost 12 in a row (0-10-2) and fired their longsuffering coach Ralph Krueger on Wednesday, installing Don Granato as the interim coach.
And the B’s got what they wanted right off the bat, an early goal. After goalie Carter Hutton gave the puck away to Matt Grzelcyk at the left point, the B’s defenseman fired it back toward the net. Greg McKegg, playing for Sean Kuraly (COVID-19 protocol list), got his stick on the puck and deflected it past Hutton at 2:56 for his first goal as a Bruin.
The B’s weren’t great in the first, especially with puck management, before finding their stride in the second — but not before a miscue briefly made it look like they were going to have a tough night.
After the B’s earned a power-play on the first shift of the second period, the Sabres evened it on a fluky shorthanded goal allowed by Jaroslav Halak. Kyle Okposo carried the puck into the Boston zone with Grzelcyk in front of him. He fired a shot from a low danger area, high on the right circle, but it ramped off Grzelcyk’s stick and beat Halak. It was the three-time 20-plus goalscorer Okposo’s first goal of the season, and it had the winger giggling to himself.
That, however, was the only puck to get by Halak (23 saves), and the B’s eventually seized control.
DeBrusk would earn the B’s a second shot at the power play by taking a high-stick from Matt Irwin in front of the Buffalo net, and then he cashed in. On the power play, David Krejci dished to Pastrnak, whose shot produced a big rebound. DeBrusk was again on the doorstep, this time to bat it home for his third of the year.
“It’s good for him. Jake can be hard on himself, too. I’m just happy he’s skating. He attacked the net,” said Cassidy. “I thought he was trying to play a complete game tonight. Happy that he scored. He is a scorer. We measure him by that, but he really measures himself by that. So when he gets rewarded, it really fuels him. Hopefully he gets hot.”
The B’s then started to apply some serious pressure on the next few shifts and earned a little bit of breathing space from a welcome source in Smith, who’d scored only one goal since Feb. 1. Connor Clifton had pinched down from his right point position and pushed the puck down to Krejci on the right side. He dished into the middle of the ice, where Smith was there to quickly rip it past Hutton with 1:24 left in the period for his fifth goal of the season, giving the B’s a two-goal lead heading into the third.
“Everybody is trying to do their part, do their role and chip in and help out,” said Smith. “That first line has sort of carried us for most of the year. Any time we get a chance to chip one in and help out, it feels good.”
Pastrnak scored his 14th goal at 4:44 of the third, a five-on-three tally, and the B’s were on their way.