*Photo from the Milford Daily News*
The Boston Bruins need to get wins by any means necessary to stay in playoff position in the East Division. Saturday afternoon against the lowly Buffalo Sabres, it was the secondary scoring that got it done. Nick Ritchie scored, Craig Smith potted the game winner, and the Bruins topped the Sabres with a 3-2 win on Saturday.
Sam Reinhart got the scoring started, giving the Sabres a 1-0 lead just 2:01 into the game. It remained that way until 11:41 into the second period, when Matt Grzelcyk got the Bruins on the board with his second goal of the season. Almost 3 minutes later, Kyle Okposo gave the Sabres the lead again, making it 2-1. In the 3rd, Ritchie tied the game 5:22 into the period, and Smith gave the Bruins the game winner at the 16:10 mark.
Smith said of the Bruins win that "I thought we were opportunistic, some of the focus was put on getting to the front of the net and being a little bit more hungry around the net. You could see Ritch bang one in there in the third, those guys just creating a little havoc in front, a lucky puck bouncing out."
Rookie Dan Vladar got the win for the Bruins in net, saving 25 shots out of 27 that came his way, earning his second NHL win. Vladar's record improved to 2-0-0 this season, while the Bruins are 17-8-5, 4th place in the East, but gaining ground on the 3rd place Pittsburgh Penguins.
Cassidy said of Vladar's game that "I thought he responded well from the turnover. You don't know from a young guy if he'll sort of get in his head or park it. I thought he did a good job of parking it, made some good saves for us. I don't think he had to make a ton of stops for us in there, but he made the ones he's supposed to. All in all, I thought he had a really strong game."
On the other side, Linus Ullmark took the loss for the Sabres in his return from injury, saving 33 shots out of 36 total in the losing effort. Ullmark's record fell to 5-5-2 this season, while the Sabres losing streak has extended to an infamous 17 games, as they sit dead last in the NHL by a country mile, with a 6-23-4 record.
Ullmark said of the loss that "It doesn't really matter how you lose the game. You know, it's unfortunate that we got some unlucky bounces and some calls against us there at the end when we're pushing for that third goal. There's nothing to say about that now, you've got to go home, recharge and then come back stronger for the next one."
The Bruins are back in action tonight against the New Jersey Devils, with Jaroslav Halak starting in net. The Sabres host the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, with Ullmark expected to start.
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