*Photo from the Boston Globe*
Despite some long lapses in their schedule so far, the Boston Bruins have had a pretty good start to the season, all things considered. The good times continued on Wednesday night. Charlie Coyle scored, Patrice Bergeron scored, and the Bruins defeated the Buffalo Sabres by a 5-1 score on Wednesday in Buffalo.
The Bruins have won 4 of their last 5 games with the victory, currently holding a 10-6 record, sitting in 5th place in the Atlantic Division with 20 points. That's a 4 point lead in the standings ahead of 6th place Buffalo, who has a 7-10-2 record in 19 games.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of Coyle's play that "I think Charlie's played pretty well, to be honest with you. But his numbers are good, he's shooting the puck. He helps on the kill, second power play now pretty consistently. He's scored a couple goals, the Montreal goal, got a lucky one, but also scored another one tonight where he gets it over the glove in tight. As a righty, he's got that shot."
Despite losing, it was the Sabres who got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead when Kyle Okposo scored his 5th goal of the season 10:56 into the game, assisted by Rasmus Asplund. Boston tied it 13:29 into the game when Bergeron collected a loose puck and scored his 7th goal of the season. 51 seconds later, it was Coyle's turn, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead thanks to his 6th goal this season.
Later in the first period, Boston's power play got a chance, which led to David Pastrnak scoring his 6th goal of the season 16:59 into the period, increasing the Bruins lead to 3-1. Shortly after that, Mike Reilly picked up his second goal of the season on a rebound, making it 4-1 in favor of the Bruins. They didn't score again until the 3rd period, when former Sabre Taylor Hall picked up his 5th goal of the season, a power play goal to make it 5-1 Bruins.
Cassidy said of the 5 unanswered goals that "We really pushed through after that first goal against. We were trying to play the right way, get up the ice in a hurry, in and out of our end, support the puck, play off the shot. That's actually what happened on that Buffalo goal. We did a good job getting out of our end. D got caught a little bit. I thought Bergy played the 1-on-1 pretty good. Was just a good shot by Okposo."
After Linus Ullmark tweaked something in the morning skate, Jeremy Swayman was given the start by Cassidy, and he delivered one of his best performances of the season. He turned aside 24 of the 25 shots on goal he faced, posting a .960 save percentage to head into Thanksgiving the right way. Swayman's record now stands at 6-3-0 this season.
For the Sabres, Aaron Dell made the start, but the Bruins got to him early and often in the first period, as he saved 18 of 22 shots before he was pulled one period in. Dustin Tokarski came on in relief and saved 24 of 25 shots he faced, also a .960 save percentage. Dell got the loss, with his record dropping to 0-4-0 this season.
Sabres head coach Don Granato said of the loss that "We've got to keep pushing and pushing ahead. It's unfortunate, but at the same time, we have to fight through and compete. If it's going to change, it's going to be those core things, competitiveness. Obviously, we can look at the film and tweak small details that we can look at. I looked at a few just after the game that need to be better. That will be our focus, absolutely."
Both the Sabres and Bruins get back into action on Black Friday, with Tokarski likely to start for the Sabres as they face the Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins square off against the New York Rangers, with Ullmark likely to start.
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