Bruins Notes
- It’s good to have Charlie McAvoy back in the Bruins lineup. McAvoy played a team-high 25:01 on 32 shifts against the Sabres and had four shots on the net, including two chances from the slot.
- Care to take a guess as to who led the Bruins with shots on the net? Yup, it was Jake DeBrusk with seven. Hall was right behind with six against his former team.
- David Pastrnak had five shots on the net, with several shakes of the head. He assisted on Marchand’s goal, but despite scoring last week against the Islanders, he still seems to be frustrated.
- Bergeron had another strong night at the dot. He won 12 of his 19 faceoffs.
- Speaking of faceoffs, fourth-line center Lazar had an even better night at the dot. The former Sabre won six of his seven faceoffs and picked up his first point as a Bruin on Clifton’s second-period goal.
- Every Bruin had at least one shot on the net except for Krejci, Ritchie, and Zboril. Boston finished with 41 shots in the game.
- The Bruins improved to 15-0-2 this season when they have a two-goal lead or more at any point in a game.
- Tuesday’s game was the 300th meeting between the two teams. Boston owns a 146-113-41 advantage and has won 18 of the last 22 games. Boston is a perfect 4-0 this season.
Stars of the Game
Tuukka Rask: Boston’s goalie was superb again with 32 saves for the shutout. He improved to 11-4-2 on the season and it appears that the back is better, which is good news for the Black and Gold.
Brad Marchand: Marchy got the Bruins going with his 24th goal of the season in the first period, which turned out to be the game-winner. As usual, he was buzzing around the ice all night and had a couple of other chances to add to his goal total.
Jeremy Lauzon: The Bruins killed all six chances Buffalo on the man advantage and Lauzon was a big reason why. He played 4:26 on the penalty kill and even drew a second-period roughing penalty on Buffalo’s Rasmus Ristolaninen that negated the rest of a Sabres power play.
Mike Reilly: Is there anything that he has yet to do for the Bruins? He assisted on Marchand’s goal, he killed penalties, got some power play time, and broke up several Buffalo rushes and passes. The 27-year-old is working his way to a nice contract this offseason.