Bruins strike late to beat Sabres by 3-1 final
The Boston Bruins came away with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over the reeling Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night at TD Garden. They are now 10-4-1 in 15 games under interim head coach Joe Sacco.
Morgan Geekie scored the eventual game-winning goal for Boston with just 1:45 left in the third period. It was a redemptive moment for Geekie and his linemate, David Pastrnak, after the latter caused a previous goal to be disallowed due to offside. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, meanwhile, stopped 19-of-20 shots (.950) at the other end, improving to 7-3-1 in 11 starts.
Charlie Coyle had an eventful first period. The Bruins veteran started the game playing right wing next to Brad Marchand and Elias Lindholm, where he’d previously been tried in Calgary. Coyle was whistled for hooking during the first period, and the B’s successfully killed it off. Just as Coyle exited the penalty box, the puck was cleared toward him in the neutral zone, giving him a clean breakaway.
Coyle crashed into Sabres goaltender James Reimer, who made the initial stop then spread his pads against the posts. A prone Coyle continued to whack away at the uncovered puck until he snuck it under Reimer’s pad for the goal, his eighth of the season and his first since Dec. 1 against Montreal.
The Bruins had to kill off most of another penalty to close out the first period, after Elias Lindholm went for a slash. They safely escaped the period with a 1-0 lead and six seconds left on the PK.
Buffalo battled back in the second period, out-shooting Boston 9-5 and ultimately tying the game up. They cashed in on a soft penalty call against Bruins newcomer Oliver Wahlstrom, who made enough contact with a falling Peyton Krebs for the official to make a “hooking” call.
Sabres forward J.J. Peterka cashed in on the gift, gathering a loose puck during the man advantage and firing it off Korpisalo and through to tie the game 1-1.
Nearly midway through the third period, the Bruins believed they had the go-ahead goal off the stick of Geekie. But the Sabres challenged the goal for offside and won, as the replay showed that Pastrnak was clearly offside, taking the goal off the board and keeping it a 1-1 game.
Geekie simply would not be denied. In the final two minutes on a Bruins power play – ironically, it was Wahlstrom drawing the penalty this time – Geekie bombed a loose puck from the high slot past Reimer to put the Bruins up 2-1 (again). This time the goal was not challenged. Brad Marchand would add an empty-net goal in the final minute to ice the win for good.
Up Next: The Bruins will practice on Sunday, then return to the TD Garden ice on Monday night to take on the Washington Capitals, in their final game before Christmas break.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
