Bruins blank Sabres to close trip
BUFFALO — Goalie Jeremy Swayman and the league-leading Boston Bruins had unfinished business to address before entertaining thoughts of finally going home following a week on the road.
In a five-game trip that began with losses in Detroit and Chicago to mark Boston’s first two-game skid of the season, the Bruins closed with three straight wins, capped by a 7-0 rout of the reeling Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.
Captain Patrice Bergeron set the tone by scoring 15 seconds into the game. The Bruins scored three times on their first seven shots. David Pastrnak matched a career-high by scoring his team-leading 48th goal.
And Swayman made 26 saves to post his second straight shutout, which he celebrated by taking a bite out of a chicken wing offered to him by fellow goalie Linus Ullmark.
Swayman, who was coming off a 36-save outing in a 3-0 win at Winnipeg on Thursday, blanked the NHL’S third-best offense. He now has four shutouts on the season.
Jake Debrusk had a goal and three assists while Garnet Hathaway and Hampus Lindholm also scored.
Wild 5, Capitals 3: Matt Boldy recorded his second career hat trick and Minnesota rebounded to beat Washington. Minnesota, which had its 14-game pointstreak end Saturday against Boston, is within one point of Dallas for the Central Division lead and two points up on Colorado for second with a dozen games to play. Ryan Reaves and Brandon Duhaime also scored, and Marc-andre Fleury made 33 saves for Minnesota.
Golden Knights 7, Blue Jackets 2:
Jack Eichel’s three goals helped Vegas bounce back from a recent loss with a victory over Columbus. This was Eichel’s fourth career hat trick and second this season. Alex Pietrangelo had a career-high four assists for the Golden Knights and Phil Kessel and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal and an assist.