Pouliot, Bruins Shelf Sabres
After 4 scoreless rounds of the Shootout, Claude Julien went off the board and tapped unlikely hero Benoit Pouliot as his 5th shooter. After arguably his worst game Monday night against his former team, the Canadiens, Julien came right back with Pouliot on the third line and in the shootout; it paid off. Pouliot came straight in on Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth and ripped a shot high glove from between the face-off dots for the game winner.
Pouliot, along with the rest of the Bruins didn’t have a great start. After Paul Gaustad challenged Lucic to the obligatory make-up fight, the B’s took several bad/questionable calls in the first period and ultimately found themselves down 2-0. After Seguin scored on the power play in the Second period, the Sabres took advantage of a lucky bounce off a bruin skate to make it 3-1. The bruins scored a late 3rd period goal from Big Z to cut the lead to 1 heading into the third.
After some nice passing work up the ice by Marchand, Seguin and Bergeron, Marchand picked up a loose puck to the left of Enroth and roofed it to tie it up at 3. The OT was back and worth with chances at both ends, but the goalies ultimately won that battle. Then came the shootout.
The majority of the shootout belonged to Thomas and Enroth who matched each other save for save before Pouliot ended it. That’s 10 in a row for the Bruins who will take on Detroit at 1:00 on Friday afternoon.
Across Enemy Lines
Want the Sabres perspective? Head over to our friends at Sabre Noise to see what they’re saying about the game.
Three Stars
3rd Star- Tim Thomas- Thomas wasn’t spectacular but he was very good when it counted, especially the shootout.
2nd Star-Benoit Pouliot- Pouliot had a slow start but played much better in the 3rd and of course had the game winner.
1st Star-Zdeno Chara– It wasn’t flashy but, Big Z did it all tonight; was a force physically, scored a big goal, made a big save when Thomas was caught out of the net, and pounded Robyn Regehr during an important first period scrum. The Bruins layed a beat down on the Sabres for running Brad Marchand and Z capped it by easily handling Regehr.