EditorsNote: Clarified PP stat in 7th graf
Brad Marchand tallied twice, David Pastrnak scored his 20th goal and the Boston Bruins edged the visiting Buffalo Sabres 3-2 Thursday night.
Tuukka Rask stopped a season-high 36 shots, including a highlight-reel save in the third period, as the Bruins won for the third time in their last four games. Danton Heinen had two assists, and Patrice Bergeron also earned a helper in his return to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury.
Rasmus Ristolainen and Brandon Montour scored for the Sabres, who have lost nine of their last 10 (1-7-2). Linus Ullmark stopped 24 shots.
The Bruins led 2-1 through two periods despite being thoroughly outplayed to start. The Sabres came out the gate strong, registering the first 14 shots on net and holding a 17-4 advantage through one.
Boston went up 3-1 when Pastrnak scored on the power play at 1:56 of the third to extend his league lead in goals. The Sabres had a chance to respond on a power play of their own a couple minutes later, but Rask stole a goal from Evan Rodrigues with a diving blocker save to keep Buffalo off the board.
The Sabres got within 3-2 when Montour scored from long distance at 12:58 of the third. Buffalo pulled Ullmark with 1:20 left but couldn't get the equalizer.
During the first, the Sabres took a 1-0 lead when Ristolainen scored from in front of the net on the power play at 5:25. The marker snapped an 0-for-21 skid on the man advantage for Buffalo over its previous eight games.
Boston finally got its first shot at 12:11 of the first and knotted the score 1:41 later on its second chance when Marchand tipped in a blast from Zdeno Chara.
Marchand was at it again on the power play in the second, putting home the tiebreaker off a rebound with Bergeron screening in front of the net at 14:45 for his 15th goal of the season.
--Field Level Media
