Bruins: The former Sabres impress against their old team
The Boston Bruins bounced back quite nicely from their disastrous loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night. Last night against the Buffalo Sabres, they looked more like themselves and beat their division rival by a 4-1 final score.
It was a big game for second-line center Charlie Coyle, as he scored a goal and recorded three points. He deserves a lot love for sure, but it also feels right to shine a light on the B’s two former Sabres – Linus Ullmark and Taylor Hall.
Like I wrote about previously, it’s far too early to say that the Ullmark signing is a bad one. There’s no denying that he struggled during the preseason, but he regrouped last night at the perfect time. In his regular season debut with the Bruins, he was sensational. He went on to save 35 out of the Sabres’ 36 shots and was the main reason why the B’s were victorious. It was apparent that he was immensely motivated going up against his former team and it paid off for the Bruins.
Hall, on the other hand, was met with a plethora of boos from Sabres fans every single time he touched the puck. Yet, aside from his two penalties, Hall had himself a, well, Hall of a night. He had a key assist on Tomas Nosek’s first goal as a member of the Bruins. He also scored the ever so important empty net goal to cement the team’s win for the evening. It was a perfect ending for the game, as he dealt with a lot of heckling all night.
It’s pretty intriguing that these two former Sabres each had themselves solid games and were big reasons for the win. Each have big expectations for this regular season, too. The Bruins signed Ullmark to a four-year, $20 million contract this summer to replace the injured Tuukka Rask. Hall also was handed a four-year extension this offseason from the Bruins and has a reasonable $6 million AAV. That’s not a bad contract for a former Hart Trophy winner.
Related Story. Ullmark gets first win as Bruins beat Sabres 4-1. light
It will be fun to watch these two continue to have very good games over these next four years. Don’t worry, Bruin fans – they will do well against other teams, too.